ATLA The Beginning of a New Era
by Ancam
Summary: A story based on ATLA; story takes place four years after the end of the hundred year war. Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko have begun their work on Republic City. Though, the world is still not at peace, and Aang still has a lot of work to do for him to restore balance to the world. He meets a girl who is like no other to him; find out why! ;- With most characters from the series.
1. Chapter 1 Chasing Lemurs

Chasing lemurs

He felt lonely yet very satisfied as he stared out at the open sea where two ships were on their way back to the Fire Nation. He gently scratched his pet lemur behind its ear, while smiling. "I would never have thought that we would come this far, Momo." The creature crawled to his head while it crackled out some sounds of devotion. He turned around to take in the yet to become city of his. Standing there, on the newly made harbor, the whole place seemed grand, even though they had only been building for what seemed like a period of two years. The Court House was in motion, taking form by every minute. He could only thank one of his greatest friends for that. Toph Beifong had not only begged him of permission to make it come alive but also found some of the world's greatest earthbenders to help her. Aang was only happy that she would help him and Zuko out, the founders of Republic City. It had started out as a dream, the new Firelord and him building a safe place for people of all kind to live happily together, no matter race or bending. And now, he was standing there, looking at it all with the greatest feeling in the world. More and more people were coming in by each day to build themselves a new home. Although the 100 year war was over, the world was still scarred and small rebellions sometimes took forms in the smaller provinces. _Here, no one will be harmed_, Aang thought to himself. He smiled at Momo, who had now joined the small pack of lemurs at the Japanese cherry tree at the outskirt of the city. He jumped over to them, feeding them some nuts he had left in his pockets from yesterday.

He had traveled together with a team to the Western Airtemple to see how the rebuilding was going and to provide them with new materials. Once he had fought old Firelord Ozai four years ago, he had promised himself to set a remaking of the Airtemples in motion, to honor his forefathers. While being there, Aang had stumbled across some wild lemurs, and decided to bring some home to Republic City. Once brought here they seemed very happy, which was understandable giving thought that the children of the city fed them with fresh fruit and berries at least twice a day.

The warm breeze cuddled his bare arms and cheeks as he rose in the air to join the lemurs in the tall tree. He chuckled as they flew on top of him as soon as he landed on one of the branches. "You guys, I'm not a tree", he laughed, while waving his arms in the air. The lemurs came to a sudden stop, and suddenly crashed in between the bushes behind him. _Which game are they playing now?_ He thought, smiling to himself while he followed them into the thick forest. "Momo?" He looked up at the treetops to see if they were chasing some animal. "Raku?" The ground was covered by small branches, growing from the firelilly bushes that were in full bloom. _Where are they?_ He thought to himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some movement. Quickly he strove across the knotty forest floor only to be disappointed. No lemurs there… "If you guys are playing hide and seek with me, it's not funny! Come back here, we are supposed to be back at the temple by now!" He nervously frowned while thinking about Siku who probably was dying of worry in this exact moment. Siku was an old friend of his who had taking the responsibility of cleaning around the temple and cooking meals for him. He smiled to himself thinking: _I'm seventeen years old, and I still have someone to take care of me… As if I need that…." _His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he saw three lemurs on a big branch just above his head. "Hey guys, what are you doing up there, get down here!" He waited patiently testing their obedience. _Oh man, Siku's gonna throw a tantrum when we get home. I wonder why the city bell hasn't ringed out yet. _He laughed to himself while scratching his bald head and tripping impatiently with his foot. "Alright guys that's it!" Aang yelled out while he pushed himself up towards the branch. "Come on, I alrea….." He stopped abruptly when he saw her.

Up there on the branch sat a blond-haired girl, curled up with her arms hugging her legs and the lemurs flying around her. They seemed to be playing with her, although Aang wasn't sure whether she'd agreed on that or not. Very surprised, he stumbled out: "Um, hello there?" He sat down on the big branch and tried to get a look of her face, but her long hair hang down covering it. She didn't say anything, ignoring him. "Are you new in the city? I haven't seen you before…" He smiled friendly at her while he studied her. Her long light hair was dirty and knotted and she wore… Nothing it seemed? "Oh", he stumbled out, turning his eyes away, blushing. _Well that's embarrassing! _He waited till the heat on his cheeks were gone and then said: "I'm Aang. Why are you up here, are you hurt? Did someone do something to you?" He shot a nervous glance on her legs. They were long and muscular but also very feminine at the same time. He could see a long scar twisting its way around one of them, like a pinkish snake crawling up to her stomach. "What's your name?" he asked impatiently. _This girl's too much. At least she could answer if she's hurt. Looks like she's been in a fight. Although, the scar seems old. _"I'm only here to help you, could you please tell me your name?" He couldn't help but to let out a chuckle as one of the lemurs crawled on her head, pulling her hair and she made a little sound, irritated. "My lemurs seem to like you!" he laughed. He could see she gave him a quick glance and suddenly her face was inches from his. She stared at him with an open mouth, and through her hair he could see a shocked expression, almost electric. "Airbender!" She whispered out, her voice being rough. It sounded like she hadn't used it for quite some time. He felt a long deep chill as she ran two fingers down both his arrow-tattooed arms and shot his eyes closed so he wouldn't get a vision of her naked body. But he could smell her though. She had a thick aroma surrounding her, as if she was a deadly flower; sweet honey but with a tint of dark soil. _This girl creeps me out, _he thought, _who is she?_ As if she was a mind reader, she spoke out: "Kiri… That's my name." She stared at him with big eyes as she said: "Monk Aang".

**What do you guys think about the first chapter? Please, let me know :-) **


	2. Chapter 2 Arrow of the Master

Arrow of the master

**Hey guys, so I'm changing the point of view to Kiri's. That was my first idea, and I just wanted to let Aang tell the first chapter, just to let you "enter" the world ;-) What did you think about it? Please let me know ****J**

The blue tattoos were like burned permanently to her corneas. When she stopped looking at him, closed her eyes for a split-second, she saw them. Confused as she was, she couldn't help herself; she had to touch them, touch him, just to make sure that it wasn't all just a dream. _How can he be here in front of me? How can he be alive? How can he BE?! _Confusion filled her mind, as she stared at him, probably for a little too long. He seemed nervous now. She wasn't used to human contact. It must have been years since she'd spoken to another person, in the sense of communication. With a voice filled with astonishment, she tried her best: "Kiri… That's my name." His clothes were so pure, so beautiful. Never in a lifetime would she have guessed that she was to sit here, in the presence of a monk. _I've heard voices, whispers about an airbending boy who were meditating for one hundred years, can this be him?_ She thought to herself while she examined him closely. The air around him was so tense, revealing his nervousness but as soon as she spoke, she could feel him loosen up. She felt the need to scream, to laugh out loud; was this really happening? Was he really that boy? "Monk Aang", she said, not to state the fact that he wore monk clothes but more like a question he needed to answer. And then he smiled. He bowed to her.

"I'm glad to meet you Kiri" he said with a light tone to his voice. The nervousness still hadn't left him. Why was he so nervous? She was like petrified by his presence. She couldn't help herself but to stare at him because of her lack of capability to talk. He was so beautiful! His light soft skin covered in yellow and red blankets of the Spirits and his bold head showing of his astonishing arrow. _Arrow of the master_, she thought to herself and she couldn't help but smile at him, letting him know that she too was glad to meet him. "Why are you here, monk Aang?" she asked curiously. She could see that this question took him by surprise. He moved a few inches away from her, looking upwards to the treetops. "You were playing with my lemurs, remember?" It was as if he was talking to the birds on the branch farther up the tree. "And please, just call me Aang".  
She had forgotten all about the lemurs that now were relaxing in a spot of sunlight a few branches away. "But you are a monk, aren't you?" She moved a slight inch closer to him, sensing the air surrounding him once more. He was definitely an airbender. He finally looked into her eyes, and through the hair that covered some of her sight, she saw that he chuckled to himself. _What's so funny, airbender?_ "I was raised by the monks of the Southern Airtemple and I live my life the best way I can by their beliefs and norms", he said looking down on his fingers. Was he ashamed of something? She looked at his hands too. They didn't look like the hands of an airbender though. Small scars and marks covered them, like the hands of an earthbender. _Well, maybe he just has a hard job, who knows? _She looked at her own hands and frowned. Compared to hers, his hands looked like the hands of a newborn baby girl. Under her long sharp nails was dirt and her arms were soiled in juice from the plants surrounding them. She had been living in this forest for a couple of months but had never been this far to the east. Only just before the lemurs `attacked´ her did she see the city. Suddenly, she became aware of how she looked, embarrassed to discover, that she only wore very little clothes. She backed all the way back to the trunk of the tree and covered her body. "I… I'm sorry! I haven't talked to anyone else besides animals for a very long time and… You're a monk! This is so embarrassing!" As well as the boy, she could hear her own voice sound hysterical. She jumped down the branch, and hit the ground with a light thud, and proceeded taking long strides across the bushy ground of the forest, hiding behind a big-leaved bush with orange berries.

"Kiri?!" Although he was far away, she was capable of hearing some of his words. The forest was very still at this time of day and especially in these parts, so close to humans. _Please don't see me, please don't see me…" _It was too much. She only wore panties and a loose leathery top to cover up her `female parts´. That was only appropriate in the company of animals. They didn't care about her showing some skin, but in the presence of humans? Of monks? She felt like dying.

"You can't just disappear, you know. Please, I don't care about… Whatever you are embarrassed about, just, show yourself, please!" He was walking in her direction. Of course. He wasn't like other humans she'd tried to escape from. _This one knows how look for things he can't see? I feel so bad for him. He tried to look away, move away from me, and I just… What does he want with me? _"Just go away, monk", she said quietly, "I cannot help you with whatever you're seeking." And with the blink of an eye, he stood there. Not looking at her, just stood there. He pulled of his upper clothing and handed it to her. "Here, put this on. I will take you to my place."


	3. Chapter 3 The Airtemple

The Airtemple 

The temple looked magnificent. A high white tower reached towards the skies, every floor marked with light green old fashion-styled roofs and the main house from which the tower grew was also huge with three stories or more. Great open windows covered the chalked walls, letting the evening sunshine spray its golden paint on every angle inside the house. The main house was almost surrounded by huge oak trees, only a small path guiding you from the house to the small harbor on the southern side of the island. "And you live here, all by yourself?" Kiri asked the airbender with much surprise. You could feel that he was relaxing more, now that he was home. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had normal – or let's say covering – clothes on. She couldn't help herself, the place was so beautiful and marvelous; she had to have a tour.

"Well, no. I live here with three nuns. Or, I call them that. Siku is the lady of the temple, you know, she's the one in charge of giving us all chores so the temple doesn't fall apart. Not literally, but you know what I mean", he grinned at her, showing his white set of perfect teeth, "and she lives by the norms of the old nuns of the eastern and western airtemples. Although she's not an airbender, she really connects amazingly with the Spirits." He took her hand and swung her up on top of a small roof that was placed over a petite fountain. "Sorry if I sicken you with all the flying and stuff" he smiled, continuing his speech: "Then there's also Onna, a very old lady from the earth kingdom. She came to the city to find peace, and I asked her to stay here with us. I mean, this place really is quiet, isn't it?" he now swung her down, to stand on a kind of stage. "This is where I practice my bending. Cool, right? Anyway, there's also Sashí. She's a young girl who has dedicated her life to the Spirits. She sorta just found me, I don't know how, but she said the Spirits had told her to come here. You'll get to know her if you stay a while. Right now she's off helping the team rebuild the Western Airtemple, really a nice woman. All of them take care of me in a way, or at least, they help me keep this place. It IS big." And then he mumbled something about an overly dramatic earthbender, not something Kiri understood.

As they stood there on the big scene, watching the lemurs cover themselves in juices from the fruits they were eating from a big plate, they heard her: "Stupid boy! Why are you so late, you should have been here two hours ago? Only the Spirits know how worried I have been!" The voice sounded from the kitchen window, where an elderly woman was hanging out, her arms in the air, as if she was trying to catch him from there. Aang looked at Kiri with anxious eyes, lowered his shoulders and dragged his feet towards her. Kiri chuckled and watched him enter the house, looking like a little boy who was about to get yelled at by his mother. She suddenly discovered that she was alone, the lemurs had gone somewhere else, and there was only the sound of the birds tweeting happily in the trees. _An airtemple, huh? _She thought to herself while she sat down on the warm rocks of the scene. She could feel the air twirl around her, and she took a deep breath letting her eyes wander around her surroundings. She folded a small ball of air in her hand and pushed it upwards, cutting through the currency of the wind. _Didn't he see me airbend in the forest?_ She wondered. However, she did know that this was a secret. Something she couldn't tell anyone, and only use when no one was around. Of course, if she panicked, she couldn't really help herself. She had tried airbending in front of others many years ago, and that resulted in something very bad. She shrugged, pushing the memory of that experience away. Her eyes came to a stop on a big weird-looking rock in the middle of an open place with a broad roof over it. The rock had a very unusual color; a greyish with a brown stripe across it. The surface of the rock seemed very soft, as if… Fur? _Did that rock just move? _

"I see you met Appa, my flying bison!" Aang sang out behind her. She twirled around and tried to shoot him an innocent look, while she patted the creature gently. "You didn't tell me you had a flying bison? This is so amazing, I thought they were extinct!" he laughed and leaded her away from the bison, towards the house. She wanted to escape his arms, and run back to the creature to cuddle with it. Her hair was filled with its saliva. _Great, now I smell like bison too. How can he walk this close to me?_

Kiri met the lady of the temple, Siku. Oh, did she meet her. Not only had Siku bowed to her and hugged her, but now she was getting her dry warm towels and filling a bathtub with hot water. Kiri sat on the edge of the bathtub and stared into the mirror across the room. She had never been this close to crying because of her own image. Her hair used to be beautiful, braided by her sister. And she usually wore normal clothes – even pretty – but when you live only in the presence of animals, you forget that kind of stuff. The meeting with Aang had made her wake up and now she really loved Siku for offering her a bath. But it felt awkward. Just sitting there, being served by an elderly woman. _It is I who should be helping her, not the opposite…_ "Miss Kiri, here are your towels; I hope you enjoy your bath." She rushed out of the room before Kiri even had the opportunity of saying thank you. Anyway, she yelled: "Thank you nun Siku!"

The bath was like a dream. Afterwards she felt so clean and fresh, like a whole new person. The nuns had provided her with proper clothes (Aang said that Siku immediately had thrown her old rags out – "These should not be worn by the friends of a monk" she'd said). They had late dinner and the nuns begged Kiri to stay for a couple of days. "I don't know Aang, I can't just come here and take all of your food and…" He stopped her by putting his hand over her mouth. He shook his head and showed her to her room. "This is amazing Aang, it's too much. Look at that view!" She said while she hurried over to the window. You could see almost the whole island. And further away, across the sparkling water, lay the city. She sighed. It was so beautiful, she felt like falling to her knees. They both stood there, and watched the city together. Although she shot some secret glances at him, just to make sure he was still there. _I'm truly blessed. This guy comes out of nowhere and treats me like princess without wanting even a simple `thank you´. _She smiled to herself and her eyelids abruptly became very heavy. Aang immediately responded to her subtle yawn and crossed the room in one stride. "You better get some sleep Kiri, tomorrow I'm gonna show you the city. Goodnight…" And soon, she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4 Republic City

Republic City

"Good morning sir, miss." Aang nodded in the direction of the bypassing couple, who bowed their heads to him. He smiled and continued leading her around the streets of the city. He had been talking to everyone they had passed, greeted them, and they would all bow their heads at him. _They really appreciate the presence of a monk, how wonderful_, she thought to herself as she too smiled at every person they encountered. The city wasn't really as huge as some of the other cities she'd visited. Nothing like Ba Sing Se at all, but almost every building was in progress. A tall skyscraper was making its way up in the sky far from the harbor, and there were a lot of earthbenders, doing their magic on it. "This city is really beautiful" Kiri smiled as she made a stop in the middle of what seemed to be a market. Carts stood in the middle of the circled place, surrounding a huge statue of a man shooting fire from his hand. She tumbled a bit backwards. Fire wasn't her favorite thing, and she unintended rambled into Aang who were talking to an elderly man. "Oh sorry, Aang", she said and nodded apologizing to the man whom he was talking to. The man looked at her with gentle eyes. She felt a calming sensation in her stomach and starred at him. "Welcome to Republic City. What do you think about the statue?" he asked, letting his eyes wonder across the majestic thing. She narrowed her eyes at him; did he see her tumbling backwards because of it or what was his game? "It is very… Pretty, sir" she stammered out, trying to keep him from seeing her nervousness. He chuckled and held his hands on the large stomach of his, saying: "I don't think Firelord Zuko will be pleased to hear someone called him pretty." Aang laughed with him, and Kiri's eyes opened widely as she once more took a look at the statue. _This is the Firelord?_ she thought, _I haven't heard anything about a change of Firelords. Always thought that Ozai was the ruler of the Fire Nation…_ She got a little closer and studied the face of the statue. From down there, it looked like something was wrong with the left side of his face. Bad sculpturing, she thought to herself, wondering out loud: "What happened to the old Firelord? Firelord Ozai?" When not getting a respond, she shot a glance over her shoulder, to see the two men staring at her in disbelief, open mouths and everything. "What?" she asked confused.

"How long have you been living in those woods, Kiri?" Aang had asked, as he had leaded her away from the man, after he apologized for her behavior. She thought about that, knowing she wasn't able to give a correct answer. "Um… Some time?" She tried out, testing to see if this was enough of an answer for him. He was now leading her to the harbor again, probably to go home to the temple. _Is he ashamed of me? How can I know anything about the world, when all I've heard was from Firenation soldiers passing through the forests where I was living? _They were at the harbor now, and she looked down her feet, ashamed of herself. "Aang, I'm sorry if I made you look bad down at the Firelords statue. I… I'm really not updated on today's society, I…" He stopped her stream of words as he pointed out over the water, beyond the airtemple island, and to another island. Here stood a gigantic statue, probably the greatest she'd ever seen before, of a boy. He was holding a giant staff of some sort, pointing in towards the city. On top of the staff was the airbender sign, as if the statue was shooting a soft wind in the direction of the city. The statued boy was wearing the finest clothes; a long rope with a necklace hanging down, again with the air element carved into it. She studied the face. _So pure and boyish_. This statue was of no man. Arrow tattoos were carved on his head, and the statue seemed to be protecting the city, watching over it. _It seems so familiar, like I've seen it before…_ she wondered to herself, looking back at Aang who stood with closed eyes, a peaceful look on his face. Then it hit her. "The statue is of you! Isn't it?" she now looked at the statue and back to Aang with huge eyes. The question _Why? _filled her mind_. _She couldn't think of anything else. She couldn't do anything else but stare at him. She wanted him to tell her the reason for this. HIS story. He scraped the ground with his foot, making small stones glide into the sea.

"Hey twinkletoes!" They both looked up at the girl who yelled, walking towards them. She was a tall, lean yet not really feminine girl. Her black hair was tied up in a big sort of bun on her head, with loose bangs covering her eyes. She wore typical earthbender clothes, yellow and green and if it wasn't for her feminine curves and hair, Kiri would have thought she was a guy. Her posture was so… Manly. She strolled casually towards them, apparently not noticing their weird expressions. "Can't a subtle earthbender have a chance of meeting the mighty Avatars new girlfriend, or what?!" she spat out and punched Aang rather hard on the shoulder. _Avatar? Why did she call him the Avatar? Is that why… The statue! He's seriously… _Kiri's mind was almost literally exploding. The heat rose to her cheeks, as she saw Aang staring at her, waiting for her reaction. "Hey Toph, this is Kiri. Kiri, Toph Beifong." Toph gave him another hard punch and Aang stumbled out with pain in his voice: "The greatest earthbender alive…" She smiled proudly and chuckled, satisfied. Kiri couldn't get a grip of her thoughts. They were all over the place. Inside she looked like a destroyed city, fragments everywhere. "Toph Beifong, honoured to meet you, gotta go, see you at the temple Aang, boy, monk, Avatar…" Kiri sprinted away and almost blew her airbending-secret. _What does it matter, he's the…_ She blushed, and ran as fast as she could towards the forest. Only first when she crashed between the bushes and stood inside the damp forest could she relax. She felt irritated. Frustrated. _I can't believe…_ "He's the Avatar" she said out loud.


	5. Chapter 5 Sneaking in the Night

Sneaking in the Night

She felt like a thief when she snuck her way through the open window in the kitchen of the temple. She'd fallen asleep on a branch in the forest. She was wakened by a nightmare. A really cruel one. _She is not a proper friend of a monk and absolutely not of the Avatar himself. _She heard dream-Siku say in her head. The night was warm, forcing small pearls of sweat tickle her forehead. As she looked around the kitchen and the great hall she suddenly realized that she couldn't remember where her room was. The darkness covered up most of the familiar things she was used to recognize to get to her room. The only light guiding her was from the moon, and it wasn't really helpful. "Having troubles finding your room?" Kiri stiffened as she recognized the voice of Siku behind her. The hair in her neck rose. She slowly turned around, and immediately gave up the chance of coming up with a good excuse. Siku continued: "You know, young miss, you should not leave monk Aang the way you did. He was not sure whether he would see you again." She sat down and began massaging her knees. She looked so old in the moonlight. "He was rather nervous about you. He told me that you didn't know that he is the Avatar, am I right?" She asked. Kiri looked at her and she felt stupid. _How could I not know that? Of course he is the Avatar, why else would there be a huge statue of him `guiding´ the city. Why else would people bow to him on the streets? Everyone knew who and what he was. Except the girl he was walking with… Stupid. _Siku smiled at her and rose to her feet. "Some late evening tea?" She asked but didn't let her answer as she just turned to heat some water.

They sat down with their tea on each side of the large table. There was room for maybe ten people or more but only five chairs, stumbled together at the end of it. Kiri still hadn't said a word since her encounter with Siku, but Siku didn't seem to mind that at all. She just did the talking. "Monk Aang is a very good young man, Miss Kiri. He has a lot of dreams he wants to fulfill. Lots of plans for the world. Even though he contradicts me, I believe that he feels like he was the reason the hundred year war continued for all those years. I keep telling him; You were just a boy. How could you have done it any other way than you did?" She smiled to herself. "He was twelve years old when he defeated Ozai. Remarkable, don't you think?" She let her eyes rest on Kiri, waiting for her respond. Kiri was surprised to hear all of this. She'd known that he really was a powerful bender but… _Twelve years old?_ "I… I have a lot of respect for him. He is truly a great person", she said while she felt the heat rise to her cheeks once more. Her heart started beating faster and she shot a glance at Siku to see if she heard it. _She must have! _Siku was just smiling at her, her gentle eyes resting on her face. Siku sipped her tea and said: "You must not let these Avatar news change how you see him. For who we think the person is today shall not be changed tomorrow." She got up and waved her hand, wanted her to follow. "You must sleep now, miss. We will have company for breakfast, do not be late." And that night Kiri learned to find her way around the temple. Well, to her room at least.

Kiri peeped through the big doorframe that led to the kitchen. She felt the nervousness tie a knot in her throat as she saw him. The Avatar. Aang sat there, smiling, talking to the newly arrived guests. His eyes glistered in the red morning sun as he poured tea to a very good-looking woman who sat across the table. Next to the beautiful woman sat a dark-skinned man with nice-looking features. Besides him sat a child, probably theirs, in a high sort of chair which seemed more like a very small armchair. The child was sleeping soundly, wrapped in a water tribe blanket. She pulled herself together, coughed quietly to make sure she wouldn't sound like someone who just got out of bed, and stepped into the kitchen. "Good morning everyone," she smiled, and shook hands with the couple. "Aang, Siku, Onna." The two nuns smiled at her and nodded but not Aang. His eyes looked worried and tired. He got up to take out the chair for her, making her blush a little bit. "This is Kiri, a new friend of mine", he said while he sat down. "Kiri this is some old and very good friends of mine; Sokka from the southern water tribe and Suki from Kyoshi Island." He finally let out a smile as he looked at their child. Sokka cleared his throat and said: "And this is our daughter Mika. She sleeps a lot", he said while he passionately touched her chin. They started talking about Sokka and Sukis story. How they'd been together since the end of the hundred year war, making family. At the moment they lived in the palace of the Firenation, together with his sister and her husband; the Firelord Zuko. Although he was smiling while talking about the luxurious rooms they'd been given, you could feel how much he missed his old home in the water tribe.

After breakfast, Aang and the couple went to a meeting in the city. Kiri had a hard time being around Aang after what happened yesterday. They hadn't had a chance of talking it through and Kiri really hoped to talk to him that night. She didn't like the way he looked when she entered the kitchen this morning. It was wrong. She wouldn't be the one responsible for him being worried or sad or… Whatever he was. She spent her day helping Onna out with cleaning the barn from Appa's leavings. That really wasn't pretty. When they were finished, she went on a little `exploring trip´ to learn to know the temple better. _This temple's magnificent,_ she thought to herself again while wandering around the corridors. _So light and cozy_. You could see that the temple was created with a style trying to get the feel of the old airtemples around the world. Small statues of old monks and nuns filled the halls and paintings of the temples covered the walls. She went op at about twenty stairs and realized that she'd reached the top. Her breathing was heavy as she entered the only room that was up there. _Aang's room?_

She felt like she messed with his privacy but couldn't make herself to stop as she saw hundreds of sheets of paper filling the eastern side of the wall. Letters, drawings and paintings from friends and acquaintances were stuck to the wall. She looked at them, she couldn't make herself go. She noticed a painting of Aang as a kid, smiling, and standing with his arms around a group of other kids. She recognized Toph, Sokka and Suki, but the others she didn't know. There was a girl – very beautiful water tribe girl – standing closest to Aang. She didn't look into the camera, but at him. Kiri felt a little sting inside her stomach while she looked a bit closer. She looked so proud of him. As if he was the only person around her. Next to her stood an older boy, much different from the other kids. His black hair hang lazily down in front of his eyes and only revealed little of his face. He was smiling too though, making the scar on the left side of his face twitch a little… _Oh! That's the Firelord! Zuko… _She hadn't really heard anything about Aang's adventures and was suddenly very curious. She went on to the picture next to it. This wasn't really a picture but more of a drawing. It was probably made by a kid, but you could see that the persons in the drawings represented the group from the other picture. Together with Momo and Appa and some old man she'd never seen before. As she stood there, caught in her own thoughts, she didn't realize how much time she spent. She wanted to know more about Aang, he was so exciting. "What are you doing in my room?" She heard his voice say, serious and confused at the same time. A gush of air waved through her hair and she twirled around to see him stand in the window with his staff. _Now you messed even more up, Kiri…_

**Oh-oh! Please review to let me know what you think! The drawing I was talking about here at the end, is the one Sokka drew at the end of the last chapter in season 3 ;-) **


	6. Chapter 6 City Lights

City Lights

She sat down on his bed and sighed. "I'm sorry Aang. I… Mess up all the time. I know I shouldn't have come here, not without your permission that is, and I'm sorry if I made you worried yesterday. I still see you as the same person." She didn't look at him while talking. She looked at her hands, clean and rinsed. She could feel that he sat down on the bed too.

"You do?" He asked. His voice was different. She could tell he wasn't smiling. _I do, don't I? See him as the same person… Siku told me I should, but… Do I? _He let out a sigh and said: "I guess not…" They sat there in silence. Kiri didn't know what to say. "Kiri, just because I'm the Avatar doesn't change the fact that I'm your friend. I am both. Or, at least I want to be both…" The heated cheeks again, _great!_ Aang continued: "And please don't mind Toph, she acts like an idiot sometimes." Kiri looked at him, confused. "What do you mean? What about her?" She couldn't recall anything weird about the boyish girl. Of course, she was a bit special but nothing she would name as `idiot-behavior´. Aang made a weird face. "Um… The fact that she called you my girlfriend? You didn't notice that?" _Aaaaaand here comes that stupid heart beating again. Scumbag body… _She let out a little chuckle. The girlfriend of the Avatar. As if that would ever happen. "No, I probably must have focused on that whole you-being-the-Avatar-thing." They laughed. "Well, I hope you don't get as surprised as that again. I didn't like it."

They spent the afternoon together with the guests, relaxing in the beautiful west sided garden, where all the lemurs were. Kiri sat on the big blanket and watched Aang play with Mika and the lemurs. She couldn't help but smile and let out small chuckles when the toddler clapped her small hands every time Aang threw a teasing air ball, making the lemurs scatter only to return to his shoulders again. Suki sat down next to her and watched her child play. "So Kiri, how did you and Aang meet each other?" She asked and smiled at her. She was so beautiful. Mahogany brown hair, deep blue eyes and pink lips. Kiri understood why Sokka had fallen in love with her. "Well, we met in the forest close to the city." She left out the part where she had been living there for several months. She didn't want to seem THAT weird. "And he invited me here, and I decided to stay for a while. I like it here" she said while she closed her eyes and leaned her face in the direction of the sun. Suki agreed: "Yeah, airtemples are so peaceful." They sat there and talked until dinner was ready. Kiri really liked Suki. _She's such a nice woman. And a great mother too. The way she always has an ear or eye on her kid is just… So caring. _

"You're a nun too?" Sokka spat out during dinner. Kiri felt all eyes gazing upon her as she'd only put vegetables and rice on her plate. His mouth was a little open, and you could see all the chewed meat that was in there. "No…", she said slowly, "I just don't like eating meat. I care about animals too much." Sokka shook his head. "Why am I the only person here who fully realizes how great meat is…? It's just the best!" He took another bite of the grilled chicken wing. "I eat meat?" Suki said while she waved with some chicken stuck to her fork. "You're my wife, you don't count." Suki made an offended face. "I don't count?!" The regret was painted on Sokka's face. The couple discussed it over the table while everyone else enjoyed their food in silence. Aang sent her a huge smile and a `thumbs up´ sign.

After dinner the women starting clearing the table while Sokka went to his and Suki's room with Mika, sleeping soundly in his arms. After they'd finished cleaning and drying the plates, Suki followed. Kiri was on her way to her room when she spotted Aang by her door, blocking her entrance. He was actually pretty handsome, standing there. He was so tall and lean. He wasn't buff but you could without doubt see his muscles. He smiled at her and his grey eyes glistered. Full of life and charm. "You're not going to bed, are you?" He asked. "That depends…" She said and with the blink of an eye she was grabbed by him and flung into the air. She frantically grabbed his shoulders and swung her legs around him. They were jumping through the air and as she sat there on his back she thought about how much she missed airbending. _Should I tell him my secret?_ The thought was scary. Even though she knew that Aang was an airbender himself, she still didn't like revealing it. "Where are you taking me?" She shouted through the whistling air. They were going so fast, she couldn't see in which direction. Aang just smiled. When they hit the water she knew. To the island with his statue. He'd frozen a chunk of water and was now using it as a really fast boat. _Crazy monk…_ There was a monument of a house on the island, statue-Aang had his foot on top of it but you could still see the city from there. It had grown dark now, and all of the lights from the city were shining bright, right at them.

They spent some hours there, talking about Aang's story. Kiri was surprised to hear how much the Avatar had struggled. She'd never thought about being the Avatar would mean you'd have to learn all the elements. She'd thought that it just came to you, naturally. Actually, she hadn't really given much thought into how it would be like to be the Avatar. Aang was proud of it but still very humble. "The Spirits chose me to safe this world. And I will do everything I can, with all of my power to do so." His eyes were on the city sky line. Her heart felt big as she studied him. "We are very blessed to have you, Aang", she whispered and laid her hand on his shoulder. They looked each other in the eyes. His eyes were mesmerizing and her mind went numb. Butterflies started flapping their wings inside of her stomach just as she finally was able to detach her stare from his. He cleared his throat and said: "We should probably head home."

Back at the temple, he jumped through the window to Kiri's room and put her down on the bed. She'd been blushing the whole way back home, thinking: _What was that? Why did I feel that? Urgh, he must think I'm such a stupid girl. Come on brain, falling in love with the Avatar? I don't think so!_ Aang stood in the window now. He looked at her with such a weird face. "This was… Great. I um… Sleep tight!" And then he threw himself upwards, pushing air with him. A gentle breeze touched her face and neck. She suddenly inhaled deeply, as if she'd been holding her breath for a long time without noticing it. "Good… Night?" She said to him, well aware of the fact that she wouldn't be able to sleep that night.


	7. Chapter 7 The Last Airbenders

The Last Airbenders 

**So what do you think about the story so far? Do you think I need something extra? Please tell me! ;-) **

She woke up with the feeling that something was wrong. She rushed out of bed and hurried downstairs. Onna was in the kitchen, preparing food. "Good morning nun Onna", she said and looked around the room. "If you are searching for monk Aang, he is in the southern garden, meditating. And I wouldn't exactly call this morning, it is noon." Kiri blushed as she backed out of the kitchen again, bowing to the nun with a "thank you." _Noon already, how long did I sleep?_ She'd had trouble sleeping that night. Every time she'd closed her eyes, she'd seen Aang with that weird look on his face. _"This was… Great. I um… Sleep tight!"_ She couldn't figure out what he meant with that sentence, but she knew something was behind it.

The southern garden was one of the most beautiful ones on the island. Big Japanese cherry trees surrounded a big stone platform where the four elements were carved into the middle. And on it sat Aang. He sat there, topless, with his back in her direction. She studied him. His blue arrow tattoo ran down from his head and all the way down to the beginning of his pants. She walked closer, and saw a scar right in the middle of his back, disturbing the blue line. It looked unnatural. As if someone had forced something really sharp into his back and twisted it around. She shrugged. _His arrows are almost broken there,_ she thought and shook her head in sympathy. She sat down in front of him and waited. The bees and bugs buzzed around her and the august wind made her feel comfortable. "Aang, can you hear me?" She spoke out quietly. Unexpectedly he sighed heavily, blowing air in her face. Her eyes opened widely. His eyes were still closed and the air surrounding him was still very calm. For a moment she thought she saw his arrows turn white, as if they glowed. _I better get something to eat, seeing things that's not really there can't be a good sign_. She smiled as she rose and started walking away. Something hard grabbed her hand and held it very tight. She screamed in surprise as she discovered that it was Aang. He was looking angrily at her, his arrows glowing white. "Stay", he said in a very rough and deep voice, not his own. His face was so mean. Anxiously, she sat down again in front of him. The angry Aang stared at her as if she'd just committed a serious crime. His eyes were also white as if some kind of Spirit had possessed him. She was scared. Soon he closed his eyes, and turned back to his normal self. She didn't dare move. _What if I provoke it again?_ She was petrified, stiff. And then he opened his eyes.

He smiled when he saw her. "Oh hi Kiri." Soon his smile fated when he saw the look on her face. "What's wrong?" She told him everything that had happened, including her being scared. His eyes became sad and he looked down on his hands. "I am so sorry. I can't explain the things I do when I meditate… Did I hurt you? Let me see your hand." He took her hand and started investigating it. Nothing was there of course but a faint red that was disappearing. "I can't believe my Spirit-self ordered you to stay. I've never heard that one before." Kiri took back her hand. She wanted him to feel better. "What else have you done?" she asked, trying to let him think about something else. Aang started laughing as he said: "Once I was in the Spirit world, and in there I sat on a huge dragon. They told me I farted so loud that Momo even got scared." She laughed with him now. "Tell me more." He smiled at her and took her hand. "Okay, let me see… Oh, this one time, I had to ask one of the only pretty Spirits of the Spirit world about some… thing, and Zuko said I'd sounded like a little girl in love, sighing and everything. He still teases me with that." Kiri who was really occupied with what he told her only then noticed that his fingers were filtered with hers. She blushed and looked down on her chest. _Don't fail me now heart!_ "You know Kiri, I… Have something to tell you." Her heart beat faster and faster. "I have something to tell you too, Aang" she mumbled. _Okay, this is it. I need to tell him this before he gets too close. _Her eyes flickered around the garden, searching for a good spot to stare. "I… I'm an airbender too."

"You're what?!" Aang rose to his feet and stared at her with wild eyes. She got on her feet too. This was the moment she'd been so afraid of. She could see he tried to make the puzzles fall in place. "How is that possible?" he asked crazily. "My great grandfather was a monk. He lived in the northern Airtemple. When the Firenation came to destroy everything, he fled. My family and I have kept this secret for many years." She shot a nervous glare in his direction. "I hope I made the right choice by telling you this, monk Aang." She said the word monk just to make it clear to him that she meant this. His face was grave; you could tell he was in deep concentration. After a while he suddenly smiled at her. "Show me… Bend some air!" He made a little jump. _Panic. What should she show him?_ "Okay", she said. She swung her hands, grabbing the air around her and formed it into a ball. She held it between her hands and looked at him. His eyes were intense. He started laughing. "This is amazing! I'm not the last airbender after all! Why didn't you tell me before? You must have thought me crazy!" She laughed at him. He looked so funny. Surely it must be a great feeling. She'd always known that the Avatar was an airbender, and therefor she wasn't the only one. But she'd also thought that there were others. _Are we the only airbenders left in this world?_ "Okay, okay, okay, do you know the air scooter trick?" He looked like a little kid, so charming and innocent. "No, would you…" He interrupted her: "Show you? Of course!" He swung his arms around just as she'd done before and pushed the ball to the ground. Afterwards he jumped up on it and made it carry him, like he drove around on a ball. _I need to try that! _She thought to herself. It had been years since she'd practiced anything else than fighting techiques. She forced her air ball down to the ground and jumped on it, only to fall down. "That's hard!" she complained while she rubbed her sore bottom. "But it's funny, and really useful" he cheered. It took her several times before she mastered the scooter. And was it funny!

The rest of the day they spent with Sokka and Suki. They had another meeting the next day and after that they would sail back home to the Firenation again. When it was time to say good night, Aang followed her to her room. They stopped in front of her door and he leaned in and whispered in her ear, sending chills down her back: "Tomorrow I'm gonna kick your ass in Airball."


	8. Chapter 8 Smoking Bones

Smoking Bones

**Hey guys! Thanks to DangerouslySilent for commenting, hope you are happy with the outcome ;-) Always let me know if there's something I've missed, I will decide whether I think it's relevant for the story or not but also open to suggestions! **

She said her goodbyes to the sweet couple. And to Aang. He was all hyper when he waved a `see-you-later´ to her from the top of Appa. A butterfly-filled stomach was becoming a habit for her. Sokka peeped out his head from behind the saddle of Appa and yelled: "Bye Kiri, very nice to meet you. I hope you'll visit us in the Firenation sometime. I think Zuko will be glad when he hears you think he's pretty!" She opened her mouth in shock and threw a deadly stare at Aang. "Yip yip!" And off they were. _Oh you just wait airbender! _

She spent her alone time in the garden with the lemurs. They were so playful. She loved the way they were around her. They liked her. And they'd liked her from the beginning. "Yeah, you guys could just feel I was an airbender too, couldn't you?" She laughed at the cracking sounds they made when she fed them nuts. Onna appeared from Appa's barn, coming her way. She sat down on a stone bench next to them, just watching. Kiri decided to join her. "So Miss Onna, just let me know if you need help with anything. I feel so rude to not help you out." The old lady just smiled. _Was something wrong with her? _She slowly took Kiri's hand and held it out in the light. "The arrows will certainly look nice on you dear Kiri." Kiri froze. _Arrows? Airbender arrows?! Did Aang tell her? I can't believe he did that? He was supposed to…_ Her stream of thoughts was abruptly stopped by Onna continuing her speech: "Monk Aang has not broken his promise to you. I've known from the beginning who you were, granddaughter of Matsu. It will be your duty together with Monk Aang to keep sure that a generation of airbenders will be part of this world. Can you promise an old lady that?" Onna's voice was terribly fragile. Kiri looked at her with wide eyes. _This sounds so weird. _"How can you know all of this, nun Onna?" She was so confused. Onna laughed. Her wrinkles seemed so deep. Kiri had never truly studied her features before. Onna had always kept her distance to her. "The Spirits are magnificent, aren't they? They have been waiting for you…" Her hand fell from Kiri's. Her face seemed to collapse before her body did. She landed in an inhuman position. "Miss Onna?! SIKU!"

Her eyes were dried out, the skin around them cracking. Aang was crying. The silent flames burned peacefully. She had to get out of there. The air was filled with a wrong smell. The smell of death. She walked for what seemed like forever and soon hit the shore. _"The Spirits have been waiting for you…"_ Onna's last words kept sounding in her head, over and over. What did the Spirits expect from her? Why had they been waiting? She sat down. After a long time staring at the ocean she grew frustrated. _Give me a sign, anything! What do you want me to do?! _She felt her body twitch. _Airbender Kiri. Only through the eyes of the pure can true love be found._ She fainted.

She was wakened by a loud sound. The wind was screaming in her ears and hard rain hit her face. She immediately rose to her feet and realized a storm was raging. She ran as fast as she could, bending the air around her feet to make her strides longer. A lightning scarred the sky in front of her making everything around seem creepy. Long shadows seemed to follow her. All she could think about was Aang. _Is he okay?_ She pulled the door open and slammed it hard. She was drenched. "Kiri?" She had a wild expression when she turned to see Aang sit alone at the kitchen table. He rushed to her side. "Are you okay, where have you been?" She shook her head. "Here, sit down. You are soaked! I'll warm some tea for you."

While heating the water he got a nice warm blanket for her. It was water tribe. She looked down the blanket and studied its symbols and characters. It said: "To Aang; never let the cold get you." With this blanket it seemed impossible. It was so warm. "The Spirits talked to me, Aang. I think." She stammered. Her body was still raging, trying to get back to its normal self again. He dropped a porcelain cup but saved from breaking with a gust of air. He sat down beside her. "What did they say?" he asked. _As if it's normal. Of course. Monks…_ She quoted: "Airbender Kiri. Only through the eyes of the pure can true love be found. What does it mean Aang?" He starred into nothing as he was grumbling over this. While she drank her tea he paved back and forth with a finger to his mouth, thinking. "They didn't say anything else?" She shook her head. "Did you experience something recently? I mean, did someone tell you anything about… Love? Like an advice, anything." She immediately thought about Onna. Her last words. "O-O… Nun Onna told me that it was our destiny to let the airbender generation continue. The two of us, you and I. She told me that this was what the Spirits wanted. She said they'd been waiting for me, Aang." And then he smiled. _What an odd thing to do. _


	9. Chapter 9 Roses of the Desert

Roses of the Desert

She fell down from the wood columns again. Her tail bone hurt like… "Aaand I win again!" Aang was shouting happily. "You know, just because you're better than me at this game doesn't mean you're better than me in every aspect. Stupid Avatar…" He laughed and lay down next to her. "I'm a better airbender than you", he said, teasing her. It was two weeks since the day nun Onna died. Time flew so fast Kiri couldn't keep up. She and Aang had really become close friends; they did almost everything together now. After that night, where the Spirits had talked to her, they both knew that they needed to stay close to each other.

Aang had explained that being the Avatar meant a great deal. You could not be selfish. That also meant that no matter how much you wanted something, like family or a giant castle – whatever – you should be able to leave it right away. But in his case, now where they were the last airbenders, they had to `keep it going´ as Aang had said. Kiri knew what this meant, but she didn't want to think about it. It made her nervous. They had been practicing airbending almost every day. However, Aang had lots of meetings and places where he needed to be and on these days Kiri helped out Siku with maintaining the temple. She had been very quiet since nun Onna passed away. Now they were only the three of them.

"Oh mighty Avatar, I'm sorry I don't live up to your high standards" Kiri said and bowed her head all the way down to the grass. "Shut up", Aang mumbled, "That's not what I meant." She laughed and shot a hard gust of air at him. She knew he hated when she talked about him that way, but that was what made it funny. Aang was too humble sometimes. Even though he possessed great powers, he didn't brag about it. He practically didn't mention it. Sometimes she would watch him practice earth, fire and waterbending. She thought it was amazing to watch him focus and shoot fire out of his fingers or force huge rocks out from the ground. She'd become a little more accustomed to being around fire since she met him. He proved to her that not all fire was evil. She'd also started joining him when he went to meditate. She enjoyed the quietness and peace that filled the air when he really `fell in´. She thought about that day, where Aang's Avatar State-person had ordered her to stay with him. _"That means you're important to me" _he'd said.

She was falling in love with him. When he looked at her, looked her in the eyes, she felt her heartbeat rise and her stomach started to tickle. Her throat was filled with a weird feeling. Like she just had to laugh out loud. She loved and hated that feeling. She didn't feel like she deserved Aang. He had such an amazing personality, a really pure mind plus he was really good-looking. Strong muscular arms, a well-trained stomach, long strong legs and… She could keep going.

He studied her as they lay there. She could feel his eyes on her, even though she had her eyes closed. "You're beautiful", he told her. "Too beautiful" he said and rolled onto his back. He let out a sigh, the sound of surrender. She looked at him, a confused look. "What do you mean, I'm too beautiful?" Kiri let her fingers walk down his stomach, sending an electric current down her spine. He took her hand and moved it back to her. "Sorry if I offend you by doing this, but sometimes you're… Too beautiful. Too gorgeous. My mind almost explode when you touch me like that." He sounded ashamed. She too felt ashamed, awkward. She knew what he meant and yet she couldn't help but to feel a little offended. She wasn't used to the strict rules of the monks about being together as a boy and a girl. Never in her life had she had a boyfriend before and there she knew very little about how much you should respond to those feelings inside of you.

"I know and I'm sorry" she said. After a moment of awkward silence, she got up. "Didn't you say yesterday that Toph needed your help to day? It's almost afternoon now…" Aang shot his eyes open and flew up on his feet. "Shoot!" He yelled and ran back to the temple. She went over to Appa's barn to make him ready for flying. "Hey big boy." She padded him on his side and swung up on him. "Aang's in a hurry buddy, we need you to fly fast. Can you do that for me?" The beats growled, probably not in the mood for speed at all. Aang came half flying, half running down the lawn and swung himself up behind her and took the robe. "Nice of you to come with me Kiri, yip yip!" She was startled. "But Aang, I can't help you, I can't bend earth!" He hugged her from behind. "So? I like your company." And off they were to Republic City. Toph and her earthbenders needed help with the City Hall. It was important for them to be finished with it soon, so that the city could be official. Now it was just a town in the process. When they landed they were greeted by a guy, probably in his twenties or so. "Welcome Avatar Aang", he looked curiously at Kiri, "and to you young lady, what is your name?" She jumped down from Appa and shook hands with him. "I'm Kiri, a friend of Aang here to help you. Although I'm not sure how I can do that, 'cause I'm not an earthbender." He laughed and started leading them the way. "I'm sure we'll figure something out." He and Aang started talking about their project. Something about walls of glass and water. She didn't get it.

They entered a room, and Kiri noticed Toph was standing over a table, talking to the other workers there. They immediately started working. Kiri had never seen so many earthbenders bending earth at the same time. It was a very hot day, so Kiri helped the workers with getting them water and sometimes bending cool air in their faces, just to keep them focused. Her eyes were focused on Aang. His eyes had this majestic look on them. She knew that this project was very important to him. This city would be one of his historical markings on the world. She couldn't help but feel so proud of him. He did everything that stood in his power to prove himself worthy of the title `Avatar´. Kiri had noticed to her surprise that Toph was blind. At first she'd thought to herself: _She doesn't look at people when they are talking to her, she moves in strange ways, she's impolite. _But then she'd seen it. A kind of blue film lay over her eyes and she didn't really blink. But man, was she a good earthbender. It was like she could just feel the earth, as if she was one with it. She was very strong too. Although she wasn't as feminine as many other girls, Kiri was still surprised to see how much weight she could bend. When they needed walls for the rooms, Toph and a mediocre earthbender could lift it together. _Amazing!_ Kiri had thought. Soon the sun went down and they had to stop their work.

"Aang, how can Toph see? I mean, I noticed she's blind and just wondered…" They were on their way back to the temple. The night sky was really pretty, stars covering every angle of the sky. "She sees with her feet. Only really great earthbenders can do that." Kiri sighed in amazement. When they landed and got Appa settled, Kiri felt her legs aching. It had been a long night and now she could hear her bed calling her with strong force. Suddenly her legs were gone under her and she twirled around only to notice that Aang was holding her. "I need to show you something", he said, smiling.

He took her to a room on the floor below his – the second highest. The room was small but very cozy. A great set of furniture stood in the center of the room and on the table in the middle stood a great bouquet of white desert roses. He sat her down on one of the sofas and took one of the flowers. "This is… For you. All of them. From me. Because-I-think-you're-amazing." He mumbled out the last words. She blushed heavily and took the rose. Her heartbeat rose. "I've been thinking a lot recently, about you and me. Kiri I…" She swallowed as she was taking in his nervous stream of words. It was difficult giving thought that her mouth was really dry. She could see that Aang had a hard time saying whatever he was about to say. He looked at her. "I'm in love with you."

Her mind exploded. Butterflies twirled around inside her body, leaving her with no words. She smiled and could feel a warm sensation near her eyes. _No crying. He'll just think you're sad about it!_ He put his hand up to her face and forced her to look into his eyes. His eyes were full of questions and she knew she had to give him some response. Her heart was bursting at its seams. She couldn't speak; she was totally lost for words. _Come on Kiri…_ She looked him in the eyes, smiling at him. He smiled at her too now. A wild hunger for him rose from her stomach. Her fingers twitched and she couldn't help herself. She finally gave in to the strong emotions of devotion that had hided inside of her for the last month… Her lips crashed on his, taking him by surprise.


	10. Chapter 10 Kiri's Story

Kiri's Story

The kiss was inevitable. It couldn't not have happened. This she knew now. With her lips on his she felt how everything seemed so clear; how her heart finally found its right rhythm and how the butterflies finally seemed to rest. All was quiet. And then he kissed her back.

Explosion. Wind blew her hair around her face, surrounding them as if they were the center of the world. Right now, they were in Kiri's. When their lips parted the wind silenced too. _Wind?! We're inside!_ Aang was blushing while he looked at her. "Good thing we stopped, I could have made a whole tornado in here." She laughed with him.

This was the greatest night of her life so far. They sat there for hours, talking about the two of them, about Republic City, about his story. And then he asked her the question she didn't expect: "You've never told me about your story Kiri, where do you come from?" She quickly looked down on her feet and mumbled: "I don't wanna talk about it…" He let out a sigh. "You know, as your boyfriend I have a right to know. So tell me your story." Pure satisfaction dripped down her spine as he used the words `your boyfriend´. But it was blended with the bitter fact that she felt obligated to tell him her story.

She threw herself back in the couch and sighed heavily. "This isn't my favorite story to tell. But as you wish: I was born in Ba Sing Se. My father and I lived in a small house in the outer ring and we were really poor. My dad was an airbender. I'd always watch him airbend in amazement when I was little. This only happened with all the doors and windows closed of course; if someone saw it we didn't know what would happen. The day came where I found out that I could airbend too. I was proud, showed it to my father, but he wasn't happy. He became sad. He told me, that I could never use it again, that it was dangerous. Of course, now I know that he only wanted to protect me, but back then…" She frowned. "One day after school, I went with some kids from my school to a sort of playground near a lake. They teased me. And I was stupid enough to stay with them, because I wanted to be friends. Stupid… Anyway, they threw me in the lake, in the section where I couldn't reach. And I couldn't swim. I thought I was going to drown. I airbended myself up from there and back to the shore. All the kids stared at me. They judged me. My father judged me. I panicked and I ran away. I started living in the forests. And then, one day I was found in a bush by a soldier from the Firenation…" She stopped to look at him. "Aang do I have to tell you this, I really hate going back. I remember details too well." She frowned and put her face in her hands. He hugged her… "No. Why don't you skip the part about the Firenation and go to where the two of us met?" She smiled and continued: "Okay, so after the um… Time with the firebenders, I went back to my father. He had passed away. I was really in a dark place then. Only recently I had learned about the hundred year war, spent time being captured by the soldiers, and then I discovered this. So I fled to the only safe place I knew; the forest. And I learned to live with the animals and the trees. I became a bit of an animal myself." She shrugged. "I lived in the forest for many years. The thought about going back to live a normal life scared me too much. And I liked living in the trees. Sometimes I would build small tree houses, but when people came by, I would flee. And yeah, then I met you and… There you have it." She felt relieved. To get that off of her chest really made her feel weightless. He hugged her hard. "Kiri, I'm sorry I made you go through that… I didn't know… I…" She silenced him with a finger on his mouth. "I'm glad I told you. And some day, when I'm ready, I'll tell you the rest. But tonight, I really just want to think about you." He kissed her. _I guess it comes with time, being used to this. If I ever will…_ She was happier than she'd ever been and she wished that that night could last forever. But as everything else, it had to end. They went their separate ways when they'd kissed good night. That night, she had nightmares.

_"Princess! Aren't you listening? I want you to dance for me!" Long mean laugh. Fire surrounding her feet, forcing her to jump. "Yeah! Exactly like that! You know what I like, don't you prettyface?" Pain. "Could you blow my tea, it's really too hot…" Burning liquid down her throat. "You sure do like alcohol, don't you airbender?" Rolling eyes. Vomit. "Jaruko relax, she's just a girl…" Screaming. "Don't tell me what to do; she should have died together with the rest of them! Stupid Spirit-believing people!" "Hope you learn this lesson!" Flames crawling slowly. Pain. _

She woke up with a scream. Sweat covered her sheets and she felt feverish. Her stomach groaned. She just reached the toilet before she vomited. _Stop remembering!_ She sat down and breathed heavily. She felt like she'd just run up the big hills of Kayuno. She decided to take a bath even though it was the middle of the night. She had to feel clean again. She tried to force the memories out of her head by thinking about Aang. She pictured him in front of her, smiling at her and stirring the hot water in the tub, making small bubbles that made her laugh. His strong arms around her, making her feel safe. His sweet innocent eyes. She looked down her body and it was all ruined. The big long scar twisted its way like a snake from her right foot to her belly button. A burning snake. The sun was rising and painted the clouds the most stunning colors. _I need to make this go away, stop haunting me!_ She thought to herself as she stepped out of the tub. She went down to the meditation area and sat down. She'd never tried it before alone and it had never worked. But she urgently needed the calmness. She imaged Aang before her eyes. The way he sat, his posture, his breathing. She felt the beams of the sun reaching her and gently warming her face. The bugs buzzed around her and she felt the currents of the air around her. Everything flowed, like small movements in a lake. Her breathing was calm and deep. Air in through the mouth, out of the nose. Many minutes passed with this. And then she reached it. Serene time.


	11. Chapter 11 State of Spirits

State of Spirits

**Hope you can keep up and you don't feel like I'm rushing things! To my one and only "fan" so far: THANK YOU for the big support! I'll keep them coming ;-) Do you think the character of Aang is realistic? Is there something I forget? I tend to mix up my own image of how he is supposed to be with the one from the cartoon… **

The two parts of her brain melted into one. She could feel everything around her in the garden. Every little grass, from its root to its tip. Every ant crawling on the damp earth. The air was so clean and fresh from the ocean bringing salt and coolness. She could feel the air, how it circled around every living and nonliving thing, and bringing life to everything. This was real. She could feel her own body too. How her heart beat slowly, her veins, lungs pulling in and out. She thought about what Aang had told her about meditation: _Meditation is a form of asking yourself questions, without knowing them. It is the closest we can come to the Spiritworld. This of course is different for me, giving thought that, you know… When you meditate, you may be lucky to be touched by a Spirit. This Spirit will put an answer in your head. But in order to gain such an answer from the other world, you must have absolute control of your mind and body. It is very hard to reach that state but as airbenders we are lucky. Airbenders have a special connection to that world because we see things others don't. We monks and nuns know that it's important to care about the circle of life. Other benders do not see this. They kill all the animals they want, slay all the forest they want, build cities where they think it's good for them and doesn't even give a thought to all the animals which house they just destroyed... As airbenders we keep that to a minimum. Temples have always been built on deserted areas to create life there. When another bender or nonbender tries to live by our norms they normally have hard times connecting with that side of them. To reach that special state, at the temple we called it "state of Spirits" you must give in to the forces of nature. See, that you are only just a small part of a huge painting and you only get paint a little spot. How would you paint it? No monk or nun reaches the state of Spirits without working really hard on it. But even when they just try they still feel a small part of them opening its eye to the spot of the true world. _She felt like her heart poured out with a melody to the nature. And she wasn't even truly where she could be yet. This was only her `opening a small part of me´ to see.

Kiri sat there for several hours just startled by how she suddenly could see the world surrounding her. Time wasn't essential; she couldn't feel the sun baking or her stomach grumbling. She thought about Aang. He filled her with such passion and wit. She really wanted to live her life like him. Like a nun. Now that they'd become boyfriend and girlfriend, they needed to be more careful. If they were going to be together, they had to do it right. She thought to herself, hoping the Spirits would hear her prayer: _My life is in your hands. My purpose is yours._ She opened her eyes to see Siku in front of her. "You will be a good wife for monk Aang. Let me show you something…" She led her to a room Kiri had never been in in the temple. It was a sort of library filled with ancient scrolls from the old airtemples. Siku took out a scroll and gave it to Kiri. "This will give you knowledge." And then she left the room, letting Kiri read to herself. The scroll was very old and short. Its corners were almost crumbling away and the letters were a pale grey. Kiri's hands trembled. She started to read it. It was about a nun from the eastern airtemple named Siryu. _She gives her life away. Doing this, she enters the full and right life. Spirits watch over her with their majestic eyes. She cannot turn their eyes away ever again. Always will the follow her, even in the afterlife. All her footsteps she leaves in this world will be blessed by her former serenity. The children she birthes into this realm, she will teach her way. By that they will learn what she accomplishes and with that knowledge they can comprehend even more. Love and life go hand in hand. _Kiri turned the scroll over. Was that the end? She didn't fully understand what it tried to tell her. What did Siku want her to get out of it? _"You will be a good wife for monk Aang…" _She'd said. Kiri blushed once more thinking about it. Was she trying to tell her that she knew they had kissed, that they were together now? Kiri heard the kitchen bell ring and slowly put the scroll back on the shelf. She was going to come back here, and see if there was anything else she could learn of the old airbenders. Her heart and mind was filled with questions that needed to be answered and a pure feeling of love. She knew that this was what she wanted.

"You're quiet Kiri, what's up?" Aang asked her over the table. She was staring into her bowl of rice while chewing really slowly. She suddenly realized that she wasn't alone, in her mind she was still back in the library. "Oh sorry, I…" She was interrupted by Siku: "I found Kiri meditating this morning. I showed her the sacred library and handed her the scroll of nun Siryu." Siku smirked and folded her hands around her cup of green leaved tea. Aang shot his eyes wide open. And then he looked concerned. "Are you sure that that was a good idea Siku?" Kiri felt offended by this. "What do you mean by that Aang? I'm not allowed to read the scrolls of my forefathers?" She folded her arms and looked at him, how his expressions revealed his inner thoughts. He gave her a surprised look. "Well yes, of course, I just… Didn't think you would want to, that's all." They looked at each other for a long time, ending up with a smile. "Later", Kiri mumbled and they finished their meal.

She and Aang sat at the small water fountain near the southern coastline. He held her hand sending a sensation of lightning from her fingertips through her body. "I was very surprised to hear that you were meditating this morning." He said while caressing the palm of her hand. "I didn't think you were into all of that, I mean… Do you believe in the Spirits?" He had a hard time getting the words out of his mouth, she could tell. This was an important question for him. They'd never spoken about it before. Kiri thought about this for a while, she wanted to say it right. "I've always believed in the Spirits, but I've never really tried to get in contact with them. I had nightmares tonight and I just wanted to feel that calmness I could feel when you were meditating. Of course, I didn't want to wake you up so I decided to try myself." She felt tensions in her body. This subject was indeed hard to talk about. Aang sat down on the ground in front of her to look her in the eyes. "I am so happy to hear this Kiri. You can't believe how much I've been thinking about that…" She knew that he'd always been very proud of believing in the Spirits. This was something he couldn't live without. Kiri wanted to get it off of her chest so she said it quickly: "I want to live like you Aang. Like a nun. Even though it will be hard for me, I've decided that that's why the Spirits brought me here. To live with you, like you…" She was interrupted by Aang's sudden arms around her, a hard kiss on her lips. The kiss was very intense, closing their conversation. They wanted the same things. And Kiri had finally let him know what she wanted. They looked at each other. They couldn't help but smile. "Kiri, I do not think it will be hard for you… You practically live by the norms of the old nuns and monks. All you need is the religious part now. But I see that you've already been touched by them. I think I you see me as I see you. You must know that I'm not like the monks that taught me. You shouldn't look up to me in that way. I try…" she silenced him with a kiss. "Aang, none of us are perfect but we do everything we can. So stop making yourself less of a monk than you are. To me, you are perfect." She blushed at her own words. Where did she get all of this? She was floating on a cloud. He'd just told her that he saw her as a nun. How could he see her that way? She was ecstatic.


	12. Chapter 12 Notes of a Great Jasmine

Notes of a great jasmine

**Hey guys. I know the previous chapter was very "religious" but I wanted to get that part of Aang into the story. The scroll of Siryu was intended to have grammatical errors because of its age. Sorry about the rest of them… Hope you're still with me ;-) **

Today was the day she was going to see him again. She missed him so terribly much and just wanted to kick the ship off on its way so they could get there sooner. Kiri hadn't seen him for a whole moth. Since they met they'd only been apart for maximum a week at a time. Aang had gone to the Firenation where he'd worked on a big project with Firelord Zuko. Kiri hadn't been able to come with him because of the new installations at the airtemple. Three days before they were to leave, a small group of young boys and girls had come to the airtemple for help. During the hundred year war they'd been separated from their parents because their parents were water- and earthbenders, and they hadn't been able to find them again. When the war ended they had been looking for a place to live their lives and they found Republic City. Until Aang and the City Council found a place for them to stay, they were to live with them at the temple. Kiri had decided to stay because she knew that Siku wouldn't be able to take care of all of them alone. All the time separated from Aang had made her a gloomy. But now, she was going to the Firenation to stay with him. Some of the kids had found another place to live. Two of them had moved in with an old and rather lonely lady named Katya who lived near the harbor. Another kid had been adopted by a nice and warm family who lived in the center of the city, near the City Hall. Only three kids were left, and Siku had told her to go. _"You are not happy without him dear, I can tell…" _She'd said. Kiri was electric.

"Friend of the Avatar, come with me." She was lead to her cabin by a strange man with long black hair and a limping leg. The ship wasn't as huge as many of the other ships going from the city to the Firenation. She entered the room which was very small. There was only room for a bed and a small table with a mirror hanging over it. "You should know, miss, that tonight we offer a splendid menu in the ship restaurant with popular specialties of the Firenation", the man told her while he backed out of the room. "Enjoy your trip." "Thank you sir!" she yelled before he closed the wooden door behind him. Hours went by and she started to get restless. It was a long journey, but she just wanted it to end. She could hear the engines roar in sync with her grumbling stomach. She didn't know what time it was, but she could tell that the sun had set. _Probably a good idea to take a look at the food…_ She wanted to safe her pretty outfit for the day when she was going to see Aang again. He'd been the one buying her the dress, so he should also watch her in it. _What the heck_, she thought to herself, _people won't see me anyway, I'll just bring my plate down to my room_. She walked out of the room and headed for the restaurant, following the delicious scent of food. She immediately regretted her decision on the choice of clothes. The restaurant was full of people, women and men eating and laughing, some were even dancing. They all looked so fancy. _What kind of ship is this? Aang what did you get me into…_ She blushed as she sat down by a table and was greeted by a waiter – he was wearing a tux. _Great, humiliate me more, please! _"How may I help you miss?" He smiled friendly at her but out of the corner she could see he shot a glance at her clothes. It was old. Siku had given them to her one of her first days at the temple. They were very classic airbender clothes, yellow and red, and not particularly up to date. Though, they reminded her of Aang, so she liked wearing them. She quickly shot a glance at the menu card but decided that she needed to be fast so she could get out of the restaurant as fast as possible. "Can you just get me something without any meat in it?" He nodded his head and turned on his heel, swiftly swooping through the crowded floor. She let out a sigh and sank down in the cushioned chair. She noticed an old man starring at her two tables away. She shot him a look of curiosity. He looked familiar but she couldn't place him. Soon the starring became awkward and she forced her eyes to look in other directions. It must have looked like she tried to wave him over because as soon as she shot a rapid look in his direction he rose to his feet and walked over to her. His face looked very old but his posture was very rank and youthful. "Excuse me miss, but are you not a friend of Avatar Aang?" He wore grey clothes underneath a black Firenation rope. _So familiar… _"Yes sir, I am. Do I know you?" She looked into his eyes. They were shaped like almonds and had a hazelnut color. He was probably handsome back in his young days. He smiled at her, and sat down at her table. "We have met." Kiri squeezed her eyes together and grumbled over who he was. "My name is Iroh. I am from the Firenation. We met at the Firelord statue down in Republic City. I remember you clearly because of your comment about my nephew, the Firelord, which I found very amusing." He waved a confused waiter over at our table to bring him his food. The waiter put three big plates full of delicious-looking different dishes just for him. Kiri blushed; she really regretted that comment about the statue. She didn't look forward to meeting the Firelord Zuko because of this… She knew that Sokka had told him about it, just knew it. The waiter brought Kiri's food; a salad with fruits and cheese. "Yes, I'm probably gonna hear from that comment, right?" She frowned, looking down on her food. Then she realized what he'd just said. "You're the Firelords uncle? I'm so sorry, nice to meet you sir, I'm Kiri." She held out her hand and bowed her head. A sudden panic tensed her body. He chuckled: "No need to be so polite Kiri, I do not see myself royal in any way." He dived in in one of his plates and started the feast. She couldn't help but laugh. _This guy's for sure not acting royal!_

They finished their meal and went out on the deck of the ship. The night was cold but beautiful. There were no cloud in the sky and the stars shined brightly down on the still water of the ocean. Iroh had brought tea for them, to warm them up. "Ah… The sensible notes of a great jasmine, nothing better." He sighed happily and sat down on one of the benches that surrounded the restaurant. Kiri sat down too. The tea really helped with her warmth. "Young Kiri, you shouldn't be nervous about meeting my nephew. He is a very gentle and good man. Avatar Aang is one of his closest friends, that means something to you, doesn't it?" Iroh looked her directly in the eyes, but by doing that he sort of calmed her. He seemed so fatherly and warm. Like a big teddy bear or something… "Yes of course, I… It's just, it's the Firelord. He's a big guy, right? And I've always feared him a little. And here I am, sailing towards him, to meet him? That is very weird for me…" She closed her eyes and thought about Aang. She just wanted it to be where he was no matter the consequences. Iroh laughed loudly. _Was she so entertaining to him? _She smiled at herself. To him she must have sounded crazy. "I can see why you may fear the Firelord a bit. Old Firelord Ozai was a scary man. Even as his brother I didn't like him. You should know by now Kiri that not all firebenders agreed with Ozai's plans for the world. As you know, Zuko was the one teaching Avatar Aang firebending, and he is Ozai's son… Sometimes we just find ourselves lost in the world we were put in, and it is our own job to break free from it." Kiri sat with her mouth open. Her mind was filled with questions. _Is Zuko Ozai's son?! What?! Did Zuko teach Aang firebending? Wouldn't you expect Zuko to be on his father's side? _Iroh saw the many questions in her eyes. "The story of my nephew Zuko probably seems long and tortuous to you. I will start from the beginning if you are interested?" Kiri nodded and made herself comfortable, as if she was going to hear one of her father's exciting fairytales about the monks from the temples. Iroh was actually very alike her father. They had the same round and soft voice, grey long hair and a lovely and calming aura around them. She listened carefully, not letting any detail slide away.


	13. Chapter 13 The Royal Palace

The Royal Palace

It was night when they arrived to The Firenation Capital. Kiri had been spending her time with Firelord Zuko's uncle Iroh. She wasn't used to sailing with such a fast ship, the normal ones took about three days to get from Republic City to the Firenation, but they'd been traveling with one of the new and modern ships. They were called TeOceans and were solely for the purpose of traveling. She hadn't gotten any sleep at all during her trip but she was wide awake. The harbor was crowded, people getting their luggage, others trying to find relatives waiting for them and Kiri and Iroh walked together, trying not to bump into anyone. "Is it usually this confusing?" She asked as she ducked her head under a big box two workers were carrying onto the ship. He laughed as he explained: "Yes. The Firenation is a busy nation. One of the main projects is to advance our technology and we can only do that by having close connections to the Earthkingdom. They have some of the best machinists and developers." She had to jump over another box coming her way and with some air under her feet she got a good look at her surroundings. She almost lost her hope. "This is insane Iroh; we'll never get out of here!" A big horn started howling and they both covered their ears. "Here," he yelled, grabbing her arm, "Our ride is waiting for us over there!" They ran –half flew – over to the caret, and slammed the wooden door behind them. On their way Kiri saw a little boy gazing at them because she airbended them over some of the heads of the crowd. She smiled at the thought - it made her feel special.

They entered the magnificent city after they'd been searched thoroughly by two guards at the big gate revealing the size of the city. Iroh had explained that this was necessary because they had experienced some brutal things with people who weren't satisfied with Zuko's place at the throne. Kiri just gazed at the city in astonishment as they continued on their way to the Royal Palace. The city was huge. Tall structures and big buildings surrounded the streets that were crowded with people. There was so much life here. After going through several guarded gates they reached the Palace. It was glorious. Red unbreakable walls covered with the fire-elements golden signs gave Kiri a feeling of insignificance. In the middle of the huge – you could almost call it a castle – a tall tower reached for the sky. All the rooftops were a golden color and thousands of small details made the place look almost godlike. She started to get nervous. One, she was going to see Aang again and it had been so long, she didn't exactly know how he would act when he saw her again. Two, she was going to meet the Firelord, one of Aang's closest friends, the guy who taught Aang firebending, plus here he was seen as royalty. Three, she would be greeted as the Avatar's girlfriend; not really something she was used to yet and to be honest she still didn't feel that she could live up to Aang. _What if they didn't approve of her? _Oh yeah, and she was going to meet Zuko's wife, also a very close friend of Aang's that had helped him defeat the old firelord. _Yikes!_

She sat in the caret and started wishing that she had a mirror on her. She didn't even know how she looked like. Even though she wore the beautiful dress Aang had given her, her face and hair could be a mess. She started tightening her braid that, to her disappointment, wasn't as perfect as she'd said to herself in the mirror on the ship. Iroh could probably see the panic in her eyes as he said: "Miss Kiri, I am sure that Avatar Aang will think you look stunning! Don't be so nervous." He winked at her and reached for her hand to help her out of the caret. She blushed a little and mumbled a subtle `thanks´. They entered a huge hall where big marble columns supported the weight of the enormous ceiling, where hundreds of small details were carved into it. She nervously searched the room for Aang, but he were nowhere to be seen. She followed Iroh down the hall and into another massive room with columns and big lamps, where controlled fires burned calmly. It was really cozy and warm here. "Uncle!" She turned around to see a tall guy with broad shoulders walking in their direction. She immediately recognized him; Firelord Zuko. He wore elegant clothing, red, black and red colors covered him, and his hair was arranged in a nob with a golden décor representing the element of fire. His face was very beautiful, his eyes the same almond shape as Iroh's, and the same hazel nutty color, though more golden. Kiri's eyes flickered a little when she noticed the scar. She immediately touched her own leg because of the similarity. _Did someone burn him in the face? How sad… _She suddenly felt lucky her scar was on her legs. At least she was able to hide hers. Her breathing suddenly became even faster than it was because she saw more people coming their way. She saw a woman and a guy walking besides each other, the woman's arm around the guy's shoulders. Kiri studied the woman closer and was almost blinded by her beauty. Her long dark-brown hair hung loosely down to her waist, her ringlets bumping up and down as she walked and she wore a beautiful deep blue dress with white patterns down the side. Her skin was dark, close to mulatto, and her eyes a light blue. Defiantly water tribe. _Sokka's sister! _That meant… She was the wife of Zuko. And next to her, with the woman's arm on his shoulder, was Aang. Her heart became bigger than ever. He seemed more beautiful than ever; his blue arrow so visible, his dark grey eyes full of love. He wore his finest clothes; the sand-colored ones. The long rope waved after his steps and he smiled at her. The smile Kiri loved so much. She couldn't help but smile back. She suddenly remembered the picture she'd seen in Aang's room months ago. It was the same girl that had held her arm around him in that picture. She felt that twitch in her stomach again; jealousy. But before her brain started working on false assumptions, Aang started running towards her with his arms spread out. He embraced her with a hard hug, sending both of them up into the air as he kissed her. She could smell his usual lovely scent but now it almost overwhelmed her, took her by surprise. This was home. Wherever he was. "Missed you so much," he whispered into her ear as they came down to the ground again. `Me too´ she mouthed as they turned so Kiri could greet the others.

After Kiri had been welcomed to the Firenation, they'd had a small snack before going to bed. The long journey had made her hungry and she slowly started to get to know Zuko and his wife, Katara. She was now lying in a giant and very soft bed in one of the many rooms of the Palace. Aang was lying next to her, apparently too tired to go into his own room. He was running his fingers through her hair, quietly making small sounds of contentment. He had asked her everything there were to ask about how things were going back home at the temple and how she'd been. He'd also told her everything about what he'd been doing since he left and how much they'd planned for the future work on Republic City. "I've missed you tooooooo much," he mumbled, with eyes closed. "Mhmmmm-missed you too," she muttered, her face almost covered by the quilt. She closed her eyes.


	14. Chapter 14 Sand Sculptures

Sand Sculptures

**Hi again! So I was browsing this site a bit and saw that a lot of you write that you do not own Avatar… Bla bla bla. I didn't know that this was important as it is pretty obvious that I don't own ATLA, but here you have it; ****Bryke and Nickelodeon own Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters, I only own this story and my own characters.** **From now on I will be more thorough before I post a chapter, so there won't be as many mistakes as before (hopefully). Tell me what you think, please! **

She woke up with an unusual feeling. Her body was totally trashed; she could feel every muscle ache as soon as she tried to get up and her mouth was as dry as the Si Wong desert. She'd slept in her dress – _great… _She felt like she'd been sleeping for a hundred years, her body was so heavy. It was like her brain hadn't connected with it yet, slowly trying to reach its ways trough her slumbering nerves. She managed to tilt her head to the side and realized that she was lying with her head on Aang's chest. The adrenaline rush woke her up. Though, she relaxed again as she gazed upon him. He looked so cute. His mouth was a bit open and a small stain of his droll colored the pillow a dark red. She couldn't help but chuckle. He looked as worn out as she felt. Under his eyes his skin had a pale grey tone which suggested that he hadn't slept enough since he got here. The room was very bright, it was probably noon already. She yawned and decided to look for a bathroom. She had to wash of the feeling of traveling; it was stuck to her skin like purple pentapuses. Aang yawned too. She had tried not to wake him up, but had failed. "Where are you going?" He rubbed his eyes. He looked around and quickly shot them open. "Did I sleep in here?!" Kiri sat down on the bed again. They'd never slept in the same bed before; not a thing they'd planned on doing before… This thought made her blush. "Well… Yes. I guess we both kinda dropped out dead last night, huh?" She smiled awkwardly, trying not to make him feel bad about himself. "Hm," Aang frowned, "you should just have thrown me out Kiri." He looked kind of beat up. "Aang, seriously, I totally collapsed in the bed too and I would never throw you out when you look like that." She chuckled and pointed at the dark drool spot on his pillow. They both laughed.

The Palace was really confusing. There were lots and lots of rooms and they all looked the same to Kiri. Aang lead her down to the dining room where the others sat. She would never have found it without his help. Sokka and Suki had joined them now. "Good morning sleepyheads," Katara said, smiling at them, "we've been waiting for you." They both blushed as they sat down at the long mahogany table. "Sorry about that," Aang said as he took a bite of a green apple. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just eat," Sokka said and glanced at all the food in front of him, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole platypus bear." _Does he ever think about anything else but food? _Kiri smiled to herself. She didn't really talk during their breakfast; she mostly listened to their conversation on something about going to the beach today. She could use a day at the beach. It'd been a long time since she'd just relaxed a whole day, giving thought that she'd been working hard with Siku at the temple. "But!" Sokka was trying to convince them to have a contest of who could build the greatest sandcastle. "No bending!" He had his finger raised and glared suspiciously around the table. "Oh yeah, it would be a shame if I burned my statue down to the ground," Zuko said sarcastically and waved his hand around, imitating how he would destroy his creation. They all laughed. Kiri caught a glimpse of Katara padding his shoulder and whispering something into his ear. They smiled at each other. They looked really good together. Two opposites, water and fire, sharing their love. Suki got up and walked towards the stair: "I'm going to get Mika ready. I'll meet you guys down at the beach!" She jumped elegantly up the stairs with the toddler on her arm.

It was a very hot day, probably the warmest of the year, and Kiri enjoyed the small grains of sand between her toes. She'd given up helping Aang with their sand sculpture as he had become kind of bossy about the face. _So typical him to care so much about their competition… _She thought, smiling to herself as she watched her boyfriend delicately form the eyes. He was making the Forest Spirit, he'd told her, but she wasn't sure whether she could believe him or not. The sculpture looked more like a normal bear with big teeth to her. The Firelord, Zuko – she couldn't make herself address him with his real name even though everyone else did – placed himself next to her. "I guess we've been degraded to benchwarmers, huh?" His hair was down and hang loosely down his shoulders. He looked great, probably the most buff guy of the group, though this wasn't something Kiri looked for in a guy. "Yeah, I guess," she said, tilting her head away from the sun and looked at her own body. She'd borrowed a bikini from Katara – she hadn't used one for… A long time. Her skin was pale in contrast to the flaming red panties and top which sadly made her scar seem more visible than usual. She didn't want people to notice it. She enjoyed the company of Aang's friends, especially the girls. Sokka was a great guy, but sometimes he acted a bit weird. And the Fir… _Zuko_ was silent; he only spoke when he had to. Kiri couldn't help but to think about the stories Iroh had told her on the ship. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "So, my uncle told me that the two of you had some good conversations during your travel here?" He was really improving on the silent-thing. "Yeah, he's a really vise man, your uncle. Though, he talks a lot. And knows too much about everything, it can be kind of irritating." She grumbled. "Ha!" Zuko spat out and started laughing. "Yeah, he's too much sometimes." He imitated him: "Prince Zuko, you have come to the crossroads of your destiny…" He looked thoughtfully out over the sea and imitated Iroh's calming eyes very well. She had to laugh. "That's really good, how about this: There are reasons each of us are born. We have to find those reasons…." She too made a dramatic face and made her voice sound rough. They laughed. "Nailed it," Zuko said as he smiled and then became serious. "My uncle can be a plague sometimes, but he's the one person I can fully rely on. And Katara of course. But he's been like a father to me and showed me my way." Kiri felt the air around him grow really tense. She wasn't sure how to answer. Before she could open her mouth, he continued, sounding way different that he had before: "He also told me you think the statue of me in Republic City is pretty. Thank you." His voice was teasing, and he looked directly at her, expecting a dramatic response. She wanted to run away, screaming. Her cheeks blushed, but she didn't give him the pleasure of laughing as she just said: "Well yes, it IS very pretty. Kind of cute, actually. They could have made the fire more dramatic though, now it's just like small bonfires, ready for some marshmallows." He shot a glance at her, and pushed her down from the tree hunk they were sitting on. She smiled and quickly got up. "So you wanna play that game? You know, you're the one that started…" She shot a quick gust of air at him and cowardly ran over to stand behind Aang and his sculpture. He looked confused. "Kiri, what's up?" She couldn't see Zuko anywhere. "You wanna join me in the water?" She said halfheartedly, busy with her search for the Firelord. "I could use a cool-down. What are you looking for?" Aang also started searching the beach with his eyes, after whatever she seemed to be looking for. "Did you lose something?" She pulled him out into the water and started to relax. She smiled at him, only with her head over the surface of the water. "You know," Aang said and smiled at her, a teasing tone is his voice, "you look really great today." Pink cheeks, again! "So do you mister Avatar." She sent an air-kiss towards his mouth. And he really did. He only wore white shorts, showing of his great body and beautiful tattoos. She could look at him for hours. "Hiding behind the big Avatar, are we?" She froze. And then she was pulled under and hauled several meters through the water. She finally reached the surface and was in contact with the air again. Relief. She could hear Zuko and Aang laughing behind her. She probably looked like a wet dog. "Even! We're even!" She yelled and they all laughed.


	15. Chapter 15 Good Old Days

Good Old Days

**Hi lovely people! So I have received a few messages asking me whether this story´s complete or not. IT'S NOT! Or else it would say "complete" in the description. To everyone who have faved my story and follows me: THANK YOU! You're the ones who keep me going with this :-D Keep telling me what you think! ;-)**

"So I'll see you guys at the party tonight, right?" Katara yelled after them. Kiri, Aang and Sokka were on their way to the city to buy presents. "Of course!" Sokka yelled at her, shaking his head. "Katara's unbelievable… Of course we'll be at the party! Although you two forgot about it… How can you forget Liberation Day?" Kiri and Aang looked at each other and both made an embarrassed face. Today was the day where the Firenation celebrated the winning over of the throne. The day Aang and his friends had defeated Ozai and his army. It was exactly five years ago today but none of them had given it any thought. This event would be huge and especially now where they were in the Firenation. It was normal to give presents for the ones you loved, family and friends and maybe neighbors as well, so they had to find something and they needed new outfits. Sokka had explained to them that they had to wear white clothes because white was the color of purity, freedom. "I have just the perfect shop for you!" He bragged out, telling their chauffeur where to go. Sokka was really the man of geography; he seemed to know every street and building here. How that could be possible Kiri couldn't understand, but they were driving in a street full of shops – it seemed right.

Sokka guided them from shop to shop and they seemed to have been walking around forever as Aang finally complained: "Sokka I CAN'T walk anymore, I NEED to rest. PLEASE stop!" Sokka looked at him, giving Aang a pathetic stare: "You're such a horrible shopper Aang, can't you even get yourself together, just for today?" Aang winched and collapsed on one of the public benches. Kiri joined him and cried out: "My feet are literally burning up!" Sokka looked at them like they were from the Spirit world. "Okay, okay, we'll have a break. But as soon as you can walk, come join me in that clothing store over there. They look like they have some clothes for children!" The couple both sighed loudly, and Kiri let her head down on Aang's shoulder. "I know," he moaned, destroyed.

A little girl was walking by them, her eyes glued to Aang's arrows. She twisted her hand out of her parent's and ran over to them. "Are you Aang, the Avatar?" She asked as she stared at him with wide eyes. He ranked his back up from his comfy position and smiled at her: "Yes I am. What's your name little one?" She started staring at Kiri. "It's Nayia… Who's she?" She was pointing at Kiri with a strange look on her face. "That's my friend, Kiri." Aang answered politely. Nayia shot him a glance of disbelief. "I don't hope you kiss her, my sister is in love with you! That would make her sad!" Kiri tried hard not to laugh at Aang's surprised facial expression. "Oh! Um… I…" A voice shot through the crowd: "Naiya! What are you doing, get back here!" A lady, probably her mother, was walking quickly towards them followed by a young girl with burning red cheeks. "It is very inappropriate to disturb people in that way," she said as she grabbed Naiya's arm. "I am sorry if she bothered yo… Oh! The Avatar." She bowed her head. "I am so very sorry if my daughter bothered you Avatar Aang… And friend," she looked quickly in Kiri's direction and then back to Aang, smiling. "No problem at all, miss." The other girl now stood behind the lady. It would seem that she was Naiya's sister, as her cheeks still burned with a hot red, starring on the pavement. Once in a while she'd look up to get a glimpse of Aang, only to again keep her eyes starring on the ground.

"I bet you have loooots of small fan girls, just like her, aaaaaall around the world!" Kiri was teasing Aang. It was weird for him to hear that a girl he'd never met before had a crush on him – or at least she thought she did. "Please stop saying that," he moaned while they were walking across the street, to meet up with Sokka who were waving at them. Aang walked right by him, mumbling a `let's just go´ while he frowned. Kiri sent the surprised Sokka a crooked smile and whispered: "Aang met a fan. She was in love with him…" Sokka immediately joined her in her tease-Aang game. "Oh Avatar! Please don't leave me, I loooove you, bend some air at me!" He sang out loudly, making people on the street stare at them while he swung his arms dramatically. Aang was walking several feet in front of them, keeping his distance as if he didn't know them. "We love you Avataaaar!" Kiri yelled and she could see his face reddening.

After several hours of hardcore shopping, they finally made their way to the caret with all of their bags of presents. Aang finally seemed to soften up; he'd been angry with them since their little game. Kiri had a hard time keeping her eyes open. She was so exhausted. She let her head rest on Aang's shoulder as he and Sokka was trying to remember some song they'd heard. "Yeah, I got it now!" Sokka said and started singing. "Even if you're lost you can't lose the love because it's in your heart…" Aang sang with him. His voice was soft and it sent a mild bass off into her ear, making her even drowsier. The song was really catchy. Even though she was tired she wanted to join them. They both looked out the window of the caret, remembering back to when they'd heard them. "I miss Toph," Sokka finally said. "Actually, I miss all of you guys. Even though we struggled a lot at that time, I really miss it." Aang nodded while still humming the melody and running fingers through Kiri's hair. Sokka continued: "A lot has changed since then… I guess most things are better now." Kiri felt his eyes on her and she opened hers to look at him. "What?" Her voice was thick and rough. _Not prepared for a whole night of party_. "Yeah," Sokka said smiling, "at that time, Aang was still hooked on Katara and we hadn't even met Toph yet!" Kiri froze at the whole Aang-was-still-hooked-on-Katara"… What did he just say? She could feel Aang was very still too. Sokka just kept smiling, thinking about the good old days. "He was what?!" Kiri said, suddenly completely awake.


	16. Chapter 16 A Wild Animal

A Wild Animal

**Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lovely reviews! How are you feeling about me bringing Aang and Katara's love story in this? Think it's too much? I wanna make it as realistic as I can… ****J**

Her heart was filled with those agonizing feelings she'd felt when seeing Aang and Katara in the picture in Aang's room and when Katara had had her arm around Aang… She was jealous, choked, sad, weird, angry… It was like she was filled with every emotion even possible for a human being at the same time. She'd never thought that Aang was that type of guy who could fall in love twice. That wasn't normal for monks. Of course, there were exceptions but the thought had never stricken her mind. She'd been so happy about the two of them; they loved each other. She could not see herself with another person than him and now she knew that he'd been in love with Katara, she thought to herself: _Maybe my life isn't meant to be this happy? It's all been too good to be true._ She wanted to cry. And all of this she managed to think within two minutes; they were still sitting in the caret on their way back to the Palace.

Sokka sat with his hands on his mouth and big eyes, starring at both of them. Kiri couldn't make herself look at Aang; she just starred at Sokka, wanting him to tell her more. Two minutes or more went on like this, all three of them just staring at each other. Finally, Aang said: "Kiri… Walk with me?" He sounded nervous and she wasn't sure how to approach him. Should she be angry with him? Sad? Act like it didn't matter? She knew Katara and Zuko were married and they were happy together. But how come he hadn't told her? After all this time, why had he chosen not to? Kiri nodded, and they stepped out of the caret as soon as it stopped. "See you back at the Palace Sokka," Aang said. Kiri could see Sokka sent him a nervous glance; he knew this was bad.

They walked slowly next to each other. Complete silence. Kiri kicked the small stones lying on the road as she tried to make out words in her head but it didn't matter; she was speechless. Aang stopped, his eyes on the ground, and Kiri turned around to stand in front of him. She wanted him to speak. _Please Aang; don't make this more comfortable than it already is! _Her heart wasn't beating in sync with her veins. Her body felt all wrong both physically and mentally. Aang opened his mouth but shut it again. _This must be hard on him too. I guess there's a reason he didn't tell me, maybe he thought it didn't matter? It's not like they were engaged or anything… I hope. _"Kiri please don't hate me… I liked Katara very much at that time, yes, but I wasn't in love with her. I thought so but after meeting you, I know that love is much bigger than that. I was a boy and she was very nice to me, I mean, I don't wanna say that because of my age I wasn't responsible, but… Katara's a very good friend of mine. I love her, like a friend. She helped me through some very tough times back then and I don't know if I would have been able to defeat anyone if it wasn't for her and the others of course. She saved my life. I should have told you – I know! And you should also know that she was the first girl I kissed." He looked at her to see if this hurt her even more and frowned when he saw her reaction, but continued: "I don't wanna blame this on my upbringing but… I've never had a motherly figure throughout my childhood, and Katara was the closest thing I had to a mother. Toph even yelled at her once for being too motherly… I guess, what I'm trying to say is… I love YOU Kiri. And nothing will ever change that. Not even the past." He sighed. He looked so sad; she couldn't not forgive him for not telling. But she still had the feelings inside of her, she still didn't fully trust his words. "You know Aang, that really hurt me back there… I was so sure that the two of us were meant to be. Like soul mates or whatever…" She swallowed. This sounded so cliché. "We _are_ meant to be together," he looked her directly in the eyes now, "you are my only love." Kiri woke up from her stance. _He loves me? Only love?_ She felt her heart starting up again, the butterflies coming to life. _Okay, so yeah, what if he kissed Katara back then? That doesn't mean he still feels that way about her. Get a grip Kiri!_ She smiled at him, whispering: "I love you too." Aang's face went from disastrous to exultant. He kissed her more powerfully and intensely than he'd ever done before. She was overwhelmed by the feelings that blinded her logic sense, and she threw her arms around him, pulling him in and crashed her body against his. Her mind went crazy; she couldn't get enough of him. Her hands were all over his muscular back touching every part of it. She felt a wild hunger for him as if she'd been possessed by a wild animal but she didn't want to stop. She couldn't make herself stop. A sudden heat made her realize what she actually was doing though. She quickly stepped back and looked at him. He looked just as crazy as she'd felt. His hands were folded into hard fists and small but wild fires shot out from them. His eyes were closed and all of his body tense, beaming with heat. He opened his eyes and looked at her still with a crazy stare. "Please don't… Do that to me." His voice was trembling. She felt so horrible. She knew that he struggled with that and she didn't make it easy for him. "Sorry Aang, I don't know what got into me…" The fire from his hands started to seize but he still looked like a bomb about to explode. She felt like dying. _How can you act like that? _She thought to herself as she bit her lower lip. As he finally cooled down, they started walking again. An awkward silence filled the space between them. "It's not that I don't… Want you in that way, I…" Aang mumbled. She knew what he was trying to say and knew that it wasn't easy for him. "I know Aang!" She cut him off; she didn't want to talk about it. She was so ashamed of herself. "If you do that again… I don't know if I can… Be so still." Her cheeks burned red and a weird feeling tickled in her stomach. "I won't, I promise…" They smiled at each other and soon they entered the courtyard of the Palace. Aang turned to her and took her hand. "I love you. Don't ever doubt that. For tonight… Can we forget about what happened between Katara and me?" She knew he was thinking about the others. Sokka had probably told everyone. "Forgotten! And about me and my whole… outbreak-thing, can we forget about that too?" She would hate to have the others know she'd acted like that. "I can't forget that…" He smiled at her with a teasing crooked-smile and started walking up to the doors.


	17. Chapter 17 The Element of Boys

The Element of Boys

**Okay, so the last chapter shows why I rated it T… Hope you liked it! THANKS to everyone who follows and favs! That means a lot :-D Especially to DangerouslySilent, you've been great! **

Fireworks filled the sky as Kiri stood on the broad balcony and watched the skyline of the Firenation Capital. It was almost midnight, but the wind was still warm, caressing her face and bare arms. Almost all of the guests had left. It had been a fantastic night; Zuko and Katara had really spared no expense when it came to the food and gifts and they'd held long but exciting speeches. Kiri started to see why Aang had seen her as a very motherly type. She cared for everyone around her and wanted them to be as comfortable as possible even if that meant she would have to stand up all night just to let another have her seat. Kiri smiled as she was joined by Aang who silently hugged her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder. "Hey beautiful," he whispered into her ear, his voice full of warmth. This was perfect: an amazing night with a gorgeous boyfriend and a bunch of their good friends. Could it get any better? "Hey lovebirds, how was your Liberation Day?" Zuko walked up to them and started watching the skyline as well. Blue, green, yellow, pink, every color imaginable filled the sky with their own special symbol. Kiri'd seen lots of Firenation emblems but also many blue arrows. She quickly kissed Aang's chin. "It was amazing Zuko, you and Katara are really great hosts!" Aang complimented. "And thanks for all of your presents, it's too much!" _Humble Aang,_ she smiled while she nodded to show Zuko she too was very grateful. They'd given Kiri a stunning warm firenation rope of the finest red silk of the Firenation. It was made by one of their close friends who'd been designing clothes for the Royal Family for decades, specializing in home-wear. Aang had gotten a huge book, one of the modern ones, about the former Avatars and their stories. During the night Kiri had several times caught him reading in it when he thought no one was looking.

To floors up was the sound of a window opening and they looked to see Katara standing in an amazing pale silver night dress and her hair down; she looked like a goddess. "Zuko, baby, aren't you joining me?" Aang covered his eyes and Kiri noticed Zuko's cheeks started to redden as his eyes widened. "Um… I, yes of course, I'll be right up." He turned around to face them to excuse himself as Aang said with a huge grin: "Just go, Zuko." Both boys laughed and Zuko stirred for the huge French doors leading back in to the dance hall. "Hey and Kiri, please don't make Aang burn the sheets, it's so messy." And then he left the couple to stand alone on the balcony, Kiri with an open mouth in surprise. That could only mean one thing… She hit Aang several times, asking him furiously: "Why did you tell him that?!" He was just laughing while he tried to avoid her hits. _Oh man! What aren't they thinking of me? _She bended a hard blow of air at him. "Hey hey hey, I told you I wouldn't forget it…" He was still laughing. _What's funny about that?_ "I told you not to tell them!" Kiri hissed angrily, her cheeks flaming. He jumped to sit on the railing and looked at her, innocently. "I AM a boy, you know." As if that was an excuse. "So what, I thought it was something between you and me. It's really private, Aang!" She could feel her heart pounding as if it was about to rip out of its place. "I know, I know," he said and twisted his hands nervously, "It's just, Zuko came up to me and he could see something was up with me, something different. And I wanted to know what I should do, you know. All of that is really new to me…" Kiri considered for a moment. "I still think you're evil to have told him…" He laughed and took one stride to stand close to her, looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?" He gave her one of his best smiles; the innocent-yet-still-teasing one. She sighed and started to walk back towards the Palace with Aang following her.

They reached her room and before she could enter, Aang blocked her way. He looked so handsome tonight. He wore his new set of white clothes that stood in really good contrast to his light skin and blue arrows. "I won't let you in before you've kissed me good night." She felt her eye twitch as she thought about what had happened earlier today when they kissed. She slowly leaned in and kissed him gently, not wanting to be guilty of another fire show. He held his hands on her neck and ended the kiss more passionately. Kiri's eyes revealed her curiosity; why was he so eager? He'd seen how he made her act, why would he push it like that? Aang sighed loudly. He was obviously asking himself the same. "You're gonna be the death of me," he said as he dropped his shoulders, looking defeated. He reached for his pocket where he pulled out a glittering thing. "I know we promised each other not to buy presents, but…" He held out a beautiful silver bracelet. It was thin and elegant and attached to it was the air symbol. "I love you." She was lost for words. He took her arm and attached it. It fit perfectly. She couldn't help but smile but it quickly fainted. "I didn't get you anything," she admitted and felt horrible for not having bought anything for him despite their agreement. He chuckled and caressed her chin. "I already have everything I could ever wish for. Good night my love." He turned for the stairs. Kiri smiled. "Good night mister Avatar," she said with a joyful note to her voice. She closed the door and sat down up against it. _How can I be so lucky to have him?_ She decided not to ever doubt on Aang's love again.


	18. Chapter 18 The Glow

The Glow

She woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling that something was misplaced. Her room was completely dark; it was probably only four in the morning. She heard some rustling out on the hall and she immediately got the feeling that it wasn't any of the guards. It was too quiet. As if that someone out there didn't want to be heard. _What is going on here?_ She got up and put some clothes on before walking towards her door. She opened it silently and peeped out at the lightened hallway. Someone was out there. Looked like four people dressed in black checking on a map of theirs. She froze as she saw a small sign on one of the guys shoulder. It was of the Phoenix King. In chock she closed the door quickly but silently and ran to the window. This was bad. Really bad. She felt her throat twitch; she wanted to scream for Aang. Anxiety almost stunned her as she realized what this was; someone wanted to hurt Zuko. She'd heard of several attempts to assassin the new Firelord but she'd never heard of anyone coming this close to him. They were literally in his home! She grabbed a sheet from the bed and hurled herself out of the window, bending lots of air into the sheet to get upwards fast. She couldn't remember where Aang's room was. _Shoot! Come on Kiri, remember!_ Every window was so dark and she couldn't tell them apart. She finally gave up and bended her way for the big balcony on the other side of the Palace to find Zuko and Katara's room. Sweat started breaking off her forehead and she felt fatigued. It was a very still night and therefore no wind to help her out, so she pushed her strength as much as she could. She finally reached the balcony and jumped to their window. Their room was bathed in moonlight and she could see they were sound asleep. She rapidly knocked on their window standing on a ball of air. Zuko was the first to wake up. He opened the window. "Kiri, what are you doing, it's the middle of the night!" He looked drowsy and his voice was filled with the thickness of sleep. "Zuko, you gotta get out of here, I saw Phoenix King rebels!" His expression immediately grew grave and he quickly ran to the bed to wake up Katara. "Katara, baby, wake up!" Kiri entered their room. Her thoughts were in a panicky chaos inside of her head as she could only focus on Aang and if he was safe. As Katara got in her clothes they could hear the alarm bells ring. "Where's Aang?" Zuko asked, an uncomfortable tone to his voice. Kiri shook her head. "Sokka and Suki!" Katara gasped and they all looked at each other and knew this was bad. They weren't really prepared for this type of break-inn. The Palace was surrounded by guards non-stop and had never been tricked like this before. They had to move fast. "Kiri, you run to Aang's room, Katara and I will go get Sokka and Suki!" And then they split up.

Kiri ran silently through the long hallways trying to find Aang's room. She still couldn't remember where it was but she tried her very best. Suddenly she heard a loud scream from the floor above her. She couldn't recognize the voice but she could tell it was of a man. Panic blinded her eyes and she ran as fast as she could to see what had provoked it. She entered a broad hall where a guard was laying on the floor, arms and legs spread out. "What happened?" Kiri asked him and tried to make him sit up. He awoke from his unconsciousness and looked around, confused. "The rebels… They're so many… The Avatar…" Kiri froze as he mentioned Aang. "What about him? Where is he?!" She cried out. The man trembled and looked like he was going to pass out again. "He… He glowed…"

Kiri shot her eyes open. _Oh no… This can't be good!_ She hadn't really seen Aang in the Avatar State yet, only when he was meditating but that was nothing like the stories he'd told her about him being able to make seas tremble and hurricanes rage. This could only mean he had been in danger. She felt like crying as she ran around the Palace, trying to locate him. This couldn't be happening. She came to an abrupt stop as she was met by a large group of rebels. They stared at her, their fingers sparking with evil fires. She couldn't move. It was like all of her worries about Aang had blinded out the possibility for her to get seen by the rebels. They came at her with a sudden force, fire lighting up the whole hall. She was exhausted from running around but she couldn't let them do whatever they had in mind. She gathered lots of air and shot it at them. Her muscles complained as she forced air into hard lines of small tornadoes that whipped them, forcing them down on the ground. "Air! Burn her!" One of the men yelled and they soon had her tied to the ground. They were so many. Her mind was exploding but she couldn't move. They had put a bad smelling piece of clothing into her mouth and it made her feel woozy. She couldn't focus. The rebels walked around her and talked but she couldn't make out the words. The sour taste of bad medicine made her eyes twirl and everything seemed to grow darker by each minute. After what seemed like half an hour something happened. The men yelled and Kiri was thrown to the ground. She couldn't feel the pain though, and her mind was filled with a numb sensation. She saw flickers of the rebels running around, fires shooting out of their fingers. _Who's there?_ She managed to think. She was passing out, she could feel it. A glowing arrow passed before her eyes. She was definitely not awake now. Her body seemed to be weightless, suddenly surrounded by the white comforting arrows. She thought about Aang. _I wish he's not hurt. Please don't let him be hurt. Spirits hear my prayers, please!_ She wanted to wake up. She wanted to push the heavy darkness that had fallen over her eyes away and find him. Her only love. The white arrows hugged her, making her feel comfortable. Loud noises sent stabbing pains down her body, especially at the areas around her ribs. _Can't they be quite? _She heard her name. _What? Leave me alone_. The numbing feeling felt so good now, the arrows still comforted her. She could smell him and just wanted to give in to the heavy darkness and the arrows. Now she was put down on a cold hard thing and it irritated her. The white arrows left her and a blue blinding light crept on her. _Where did you go arrows? _Pain suddenly hit her with a strong force and she let out a scream of chock. Her eyes opened and she could only see the blue light. It crept on her chest, sending deep chills through her body. She heard her voice again, and now it was clearer. Other sounds hit her ears but she couldn't make out where they came from. Figures flickered around her. And then she saw everything clearly again.


	19. Chapter 19 The Avatar

The Avatar

Katara was the first thing she saw. She sat in front of her with her arms close to Kiri's chest, her face illuminated by a sharp blue light. It didn't take long for Kiri to realize where the blue light was coming from. "What are you doing to me?" Kiri asked her with a rough voice. As soon as she spoke she saw Suki coming for her and hugged her hard. _What is going on here? _"I'm healing you. You're hurt and you need to sit still, relax." Kiri was very confused and she looked around to see where they were. _Still in the Palace. That must mean… Hey… _"Where's Aang? Where's Zuko? Sokka?" She could see a small flinch in Katara's otherwise relaxed face. There was something she wasn't telling her. "Where are they?" Kiri yelled and stood up. A sharp pain shot into her rib and forced her to sit down again. Katara looked angrily at her, as the blue substance fell to the grown. "Kiri you don't need to worry about them, they're great warriors, and they've done this like a million times! And sit still, woman!" But she couldn't believe her. She couldn't trust her words. She needed to see for herself, she needed to see him. "Katara I need to find Aang…" Kiri started to get impatient as Katara continued her healing-thing, whatever it was. It felt nice but it was pointless right now. All Kiri cared about was knowing if Aang was okay. And by that, she wanted to see him. Suddenly they all heard a loud crash from somewhere above and Suki tried to hush Mika's crying. Mika wanted her daddy. This was it. Kiri bit her teeth together and ran as fast as she could, away from Katara. She needed to know what had made that crash; she needed to know _who_ made that crash. The pain was excruciating. She didn't want to look at herself in fear of what she might see. She looked backwards to see if Katara had followed her. She hadn't. Another loud crash filled the rooms and echoed pain with it. Someone was yelling. Kiri ran and ran, she bended air under her feet so she could run even faster and finally she made it to the room where the crashes had sounded.

She got confused when she saw what was going on. Zuko was standing in the middle of a ring of Phoenix King rebels and had a giant whip of fire that was forming a circle, making it impossible for them to step closer. The ring was enormous and snake-like. It even looked like it had a snake's head. The group of rebels was really massive. _How could they sneak into the Palace without anyone knowing? _She couldn't wrap her head around it. _How could anyone want to hurt Zuko?_ She got herself together and went for one of the sides of Zuko's ring, blowing hard winds at them. They were literally blown away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the surprise in Zuko's eyes followed by a diminutive smile. So he was glad she was here. The rebels were coming at her from all sides, which gave Zuko a chance to keep up with the mass. She was screaming while she kicked and punched air in all directions. Fire was coming for her in long strides and she became more and more exhausted. The pain was really agonizing. She couldn't keep up; they were too many. Zuko was yelling at her. She couldn't hear what he was saying because of the wind blasting in her ears. She kept going even though the storm made it almost impossible for her to bend the air as she wanted to… _Wait a minute… We're inside?! _A long deep chill ran down her spine as she turned around and saw him. The glowing Avatar. He was so majestic. She was hypnotized by his eyes. They were glowing white with a look Kiri had never seen in Aang's eyes before. He looked so mean. His muscles were dancing over his bare chest as he bended the air around him. She felt so small as she looked at him. He was so powerful! She feared him. If he wanted to, he could destroy everyone in the room at the same time. He beamed with power. She'd never seen anything like that in her whole life before. His arrows shined brightly as he easily took down several rebels at the same time. They fled before her eyes. No one could deal with this much power. It seemed like rocks and fire shot from his fingers. Her mind was crazed with his image. Her eyes were stuck on him as Zuko was pulling her away from the scene. She couldn't look away. Zuko was yelling something to her but she couldn't rip her eyes away from her boyfriend. _So majestic!_

"Kiri talk to me, you're hurt! Are you okay? Tell me something, please!" She opened her eyes to see a panicky Zuko shaking her by her shoulders. She'd been unconscious. The sharp pain returned to her ribs as she finally awoke from her trance. "Kiri, say something!" She was sitting on the huge stairs leading up to the great dance hall. "Where…" Her voice was juddering. "You're at the Palace. You're safe. We're all safe." She felt irritated. Couldn't he figure out who she was asking for? But as she opened her mouth to ask, she saw Aang walking out of the great doors leading to the room they'd fought in. Her eyes widened and Zuko turned around to see why. "Aang, are you okay?" He asked. She wanted to run over to greet him; she wanted to let him know how magnificent he was. But she couldn't move. Fear had blocked her brain from the rest of her body. Was she still afraid of him? "I'm fine," Aang said with a calm voice while he rested his eyes on Kiri. He looked devastated. _But why?_ Katara came running and hugged her husband while she cried. "I… I was so scared for you Zuko…" Zuko tried to calm her: "I know baby, I'm here now. Don't cry… Where's your brother?" Aang and Kiri still stared into each other's eyes. Kiri couldn't figure his expression out. Why was he looking like that?


	20. Chapter 20 Comfort

Comfort

**Hey again guys! What did you think about my description of Aang in the Avatar State? Thanks for all the reviews – really helps knowing how you think I should proceed! **

They were sitting around the great table in the meeting room, waiting for the rest of the generals to enter. Zuko had called everyone in to an urgent meeting after the attempt on taking over the Royal Palace. It had been too close; if Aang hadn't been there, they would never have been able to take control of the situation. Kiri was dead-tired. She had broken two ribs and had a lot of bruises and scars around her body, but she'd insisted on coming to the meeting even though the others had told her she needed to rest. She couldn't just lie in a bed and not be there?! They'd wrapped her up in bindings around her chest. She tried to sit as still as possible; the pain was still shooting small fires down her body when she moved even though Katara had healed her already twice this morning. Across the big table sat her boyfriend. He looked as worn out as she felt. She didn't like looking at him in fear of making eye contact; they hadn't had time to talk to each other since the whole Aang-in-the-Avatar-state-thing. He had a weird aura around him; the air was too falsely relaxed.

The meeting was over and Kiri decided to get some fresh air out on the small balcony of the room. Zuko had ordered all the firenation generals to direct their troops out to find the Phoenix King rebels. He'd also sent out a smaller group of Dai Li agents to secretly keep an eye on the guards of the Palace; someone must have betrayed him several times throughout the night. Kiri was fascinated by Zuko; he was really a smart guy and dealt with this problem in a good way. Though, she could see the fear in his eyes. He was afraid. Not that he didn't have a reason to be; the rebels did get awfully close to his family and friends, not to mention himself. Kiri stared down at the garden where Sokka and Suki were playing with Mika. They looked so happy; a little joyful family. Kiri thought about her dad. _Oh father, if only you could be here now and see how the world is beginning to heal itself…_ She knew he was living with the Spirits now. But somewhere deep inside her mind she wished he didn't. She wished him to be there, next to her. To guide her. She gasped out loudly as she could feel the vibrations in the air of a person standing close to her. She turned around to see Aang looking at her with a guilty look in his eyes. Kiri couldn't figure out why he was acting like he did so she hugged him firmly to let him know that she wasn't mad at him, or… Whatever he thought she was. He also put his arms around her and she could feel him loosen up a little bit. "I thought… The way you looked at me… You looked so horrified." He whispered slowly. "Like I was some kind of monster…" Kiri felt a big gulp in her throat; a gulp of shame. She hadn't given any thought to how she looked like during her hypnosis the night before. Apparently she'd looked like she was staring at some savage boar-q-pine. "Aang, forgive me. I'd never seen you like that… You were so… Powerful." She whispered back. He kissed her passionately, forgiving her right away. He chuckled ominously: "I guess I did lose my mind a little bit last night…" Kiri made a questioning face. "Oh so you think you didn't have anything to do with me going all crazy in there?" He made her totally confused now: what was he talking about? He dumped his shoulders in a beaten gesture as he said: "Kiri I was so worried about you. Suddenly you're in the middle of the giant mass of rebels, every single one of them coming at you; at my girlfriend? My mind went crazy." He leaned against the railing and looked at her with an innocent smile. Peculiar how this innocent guy could turn into such a powerful man. She liked it. Suddenly all the fear she'd felt for him the night before was placed out by the feeling of trust, comfort. "You really looked sexy in there, you know that?" She smiled as he hugged her from behind, his hands around her stomach. She could feel him stiffen a little but then laughed. "You really think so? Ha! That's a first…" She laughed with him. She knew it must sound foolish to him; one on side she had feared him and on the other side she found him rather racy. He hugged her tighter now, forcing her back against his chest. She ignored the pain in her ribs telling her that she shouldn't stand like that. He kissed her ear while running fingers down her hair. "You're amazing Kiri. You always surprise me." His breath tickled her ear and she turned around to kiss him. "Last night I was really worried about you too Aang. I thought… I don't know, I panicked." She blushed as he laughed out and waved a gentle gust of air in her face. "Kiri, please don't worry about me so much that you get yourself in trouble. I'm the Avatar, I protect you." This irritated her a bit. "Oh, so I'm not allowed to worry about my boyfriend even though he's the Avatar? That makes you more exposed!" Aang just smiled at her and she was caught in his gaze. His eyes were so beautiful in the sunlight. The deep grey color reminded her of the calm before a storm, only, the storm never came. "I love you," he smiled, his voice softened with affection. _How can I be so lucky?_ She thought to herself as she kissed him again, keenly. Her hormones raged through her body making every touch of his feel like an explosion. "I love you too."


	21. Chapter 21 Decisions to Be Made

Decisions to Be Made

"I will not tolerate that!" Zuko yelled out angrily as he stared at Aang, nostrils flaring. "You will do as I say!" Aang looked like he was going to explode. "Zuko you can't tell me what to do, I'm doing this!" They were both looking like two saber-tooth moose lions wanting the same prey. Zuko slammed his fist hard into the dining table, making his plate rise. "Avatar Aang, as the Firelord I am ordering you to do as I say!" The mood was as good as destroyed. Everyone else, but the two hotheads, were staring either at their plate of food or at each other. Suki excused herself and took Mika with her. Kiri wanted to do the same. Zuko looked furious and so did Aang. Aang shouted: "Zuko I am not leaving you here!" Zuko got up and again slammed his fist into the table. It made everyone at the table move in their seats in surprise. "Aang, we both want the same thing; I don't want my family or friends to be here at the Palace in time of these turbulences. It's too dangerous!" Aang spat his arms out, yelling: "Yeah? And you expect me to leave my best friend alone here? Never!" Kiri looked at Katara. She was sitting next to Zuko and she looked like she was about to cry. This was not something they'd never experienced before. Friends, and especially not best friends, shouldn't scream at each other like that. They were best friends, and now all of a sudden, they were shouting at each other like enemies. Kiri wanted to yell at them both to shut up. The quarrel was going nowhere. She sighed out loudly. Zuko looked at her, his eyes meeting hers in a fierce manner. "Kiri, tell your boyfriend to do as I say!" he shouted. Kiri shook her head: "I'm staying out of this one…" She mumbled vaguely, almost not daring to answer him back. He looked so out of mind, it was terrifying. Aang got up quickly and stomped his foot in the ground as he yelled: "You don't talk to her like that, she stays out of this, it's between you and me!" Kiri had never seen Aang like this before. His dark grey eyes looked like they were about to shoot lightning. He looked alarmingly scary too. Sokka cleared his throat and raised his finger, about to say something. "No!" Zuko yelled at him. Zuko then suddenly sat down and said: "If you're not out of this Palace, on your way to Republic City before noon tomorrow, I will have my guards escorting you out." His voice seemed calm but under the surface, Kiri could hear an arrogant, almost nonchalant, tone to his voice. Aang spat his arms out in defeat and grabbed his staff and darted for the balcony. In the wink of an eye he was gone. Katara started snuffling and Zuko immediately threw his arms around her, comforting her. Kiri looked at Sokka who seemed to be as jumbled as she felt inside. "I'm, um… Gonna go look for Aang," she mumbled and rushed for the balcony as well.

The fresh air felt good on her burning cheeks. It had felt like a bending arena full of firebenders in the dining room. Could as well have been. She searched for Aang on the balcony but couldn't find him. She hoped he wasn't too infuriated. "Aang?" She called out. The sun had set and the night had already crept up the eastern side of the Palace, making everything dark. "Down here." His voice came from the garden below the balcony and she swiftly jumped down, landing perfectly on a ball of air and a light thud on the damp cool grass. She couldn't see him at first but after her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the night, she saw his silhouette. He was sitting in his lotus position as he always did when he was meditating. "Am I interrupting you?" She asked politely, not wanting him to be mad at her too. He padded the grass beside him. "I am going to meditate…" He whispered with a trembling voice. _Guess he still hasn't cooled completely down yet_. She watched him as he sat there, the air around him getting more and more clean of vibrations. The furrows in his forehead increased by every minute and he eventually came to look as his normal self again. She couldn't relax enough to meditate. Her thoughts were still with the angry Firelord. Couldn't he see that Aang just wanted to help him out? On the other hand she understood him. He didn't want all of his friends and family hanging around the Palace in these times. Before the event with the rebels almost managing to take over the Palace, they didn't think so many people were against Zuko as Firelord. She shrugged. The thought of again having a Firelord as the old one – Ozai – was really disturbing. Zuko was perfect for the throne. "Am I too selfish?" Aang asked, surprising her. She thought he still meditated. He had closed eyes. "Um…" She didn't know how to answer. _No, you're not selfish; you're just trying to help out your best friend… _She couldn't get her words to leave her mouth. "Guess I am…" Aang said with a discouraged voice. He got up and started to head for the courtyard in front of the Palace. Kiri followed. "Aang, I don't think you're selfish, it's just, I understand why… Iroh?"

They both stopped as they realized Iroh was walking through the courtyard with hasty steps. When he spotted them he yelped out: "Aang! I heard what happened. Is everyone alright?" And then Aang told him about everything that had happened throughout the last two days; the Phoenix King rebels breaking in, the possibility of guards might have betrayed Zuko, the fight between him and Zuko… It all seemed so gloomy when he just laid it out like that. Iroh put a hand on Aang's shoulder as he said: "Avatar Aang, you must see this from Zuko's point of view. As he watches his loved ones get hurt in his own home, he will resort to the means he finds best. He trusts you with this. You should not see him as selfish; he only does this because he loves all of you." Aang looked ashamed as he scraped the earth beneath him with his foot. "But I really wanna help him out. As the Avatar, it's my job to protect the world from things like this. How can I just go home and be safe while he fights battles here? It doesn't seem right…" Iroh smiled at him and put his arm around him and started walking towards the main entrance. "Trust him with this, Aang. If my nephew thinks he can deal with this alone, I believe it's because he actually can. He is a clever young man." Kiri thought she saw a flicker of anxiety in Iroh's eyes but as she looked closer it was gone. She didn't like that. Did Iroh really believe in his own words? Were Zuko capable of dealing this without Aang's help? Could he really fight the rebels?


	22. Chapter 22 Safer

Safer

The trip home weren't going fast at all. All of the friends were on their way on a private boat of Zuko's and they were all very silent. The air between them was almost electric. Aang hadn't said a word since they left the firenation harbor and all Kiri could think about was what he was thinking. He'd agreed with the Firelord to take his family to Republic City but Kiri knew Aang wasn't really sure whether he was doing the right thing or not. He was sitting on the railing of the boat and stared out at the sea, thinking every detail through. Kiri wanted to talk to him, tell him that everything was going to be okay, but she wasn't really sure of that herself. She shrugged and turned around to walk inside where the others sat. On her way she noticed Katara sitting on a bench by herself and Kiri decided to join her. _She must be feeling torn right now. Leaving her husband right after the Palace was almost taken over? That's a tough one… _Kiri sat down on the hard bench and felt the coolness slowly creeping through the fabric of her pants. The autumn was gradually getting closer and going to Republic City wouldn't make it better. The firenation was located on the western hemisphere and therefore dominated by good and warm weather almost all year round. Republic City, on the other hand, was located in the northern hemisphere and because of that the seasons were always changing. It would be very could in the winter but also warm in the summer. Kiri didn't mind the cold but she always had a hard time adjusting to a colder weather when she had gotten used to the warmth of summer.

Katara didn't even look at her when Kiri sat down next to her. She just pulled her lips up in a weird grimace, trying to put on a smile. Kiri put her arm around her shoulders and squeezed her in a comforting gesture. She didn't know what to say. "Kiri… Do you even like me?" Katara asked. Kiri's mouth shot open a bit. _What is this all of a sudden?_ "What are you talking about, Katara? Of course I like you! We've spent some great times together the last couple of weeks. Why are you asking me that?" Katara tilted her head and studied Kiri's facial expression, Kiri could tell. _What is going on?_ Katara bit her lower lip and started looking out over the sea. "It's just… Sokka told me about how you reacted when you found out that Aang and I had dated and… I haven't really talked to you about it and thought that, you know… You would be mad at me?" Kiri couldn't figure out why she was bringing this up; it was so out of context. She'd just left her husband back in the Firenation and now she was suddenly worrying whether Kiri was mad at her for dating her boyfriend a long time ago? _Weird…_ "Well, at first I was mad at both you and Aang for not telling me. But then I figured, since the two of you are just friends now it doesn't matter. I mean, you're married to Zuko and Aang and I are in love so everyone's happy, right?" Kiri tried to smile at her; to make her feel better but it didn't seem to help. _What is going on in her head? _"I guess so." Katara mumbled. Kiri shot her a pair of confused eyes. "What do you mean by this Katara? Aren't you happy with Zuko?" Katara sighed out and walked over to the railing of the ship and stared down at the foaming ocean. She didn't seem happy. "I… Don't know if… Well, of course I am happy with Zuko, he's so good to me, we're like the moon and ocean spirits; two very different creations who can't function properly without each other. But we're also very stubborn, the both of us. We want a lot of things and sometimes our goals are different. Five years ago, I would never have thought that I would be the wife of the Firelord, of Zuko. I hated him once, you know." She smiled at Kiri and continued: "I always thought my destiny was with Aang. I don't want you to get upset about this Kiri… But I still haven't let him go completely. He still has a little spot inside my heart and sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we ended up together instead of Zuko and I. You have to know that this is not something I'm considering. I would never leave Zuko and never hurt you or Aang like that. But my mind has wondered over the scenario of me and Aang being together, the last couple of days, and I can't help to ask myself: Did I choose the right man? Zuko is so very good to me. He adores me and makes me feel like I'm the only girl existing. But in times like these he becomes so different. As if something possesses him and he seems so distant from me. And I feel so… Lost, you know? And here, when I look at Aang, I know I'm safe. Safer than if I stayed with my own husband. Isn't that weird?" Katara still had her eyes on the foam of the ocean. Kiri had her eyes on Aang. _Her_ boyfriend. "Katara, I don't really know what to say… I feel very safe when I'm around Aang and I don't think it's weird that you do too. He is the most loving and caring person I've ever met and he will do everything that holds in his power to keep the persons he love safe." Kiri swallowed. Her mouth was dry despite the damp air of the ocean. She had a strange feeling in her stomach. _Had Katara just told her that she still had feelings for Aang?_ Her stomach churned. Katara had her eyes on Aang now. He was still sitting on the railing at the end of the ships and wasn't aware of the two women staring at him. He looked worried. "You're right Kiri… I just think it's hard right now. Marriage isn't a dance on roses all the time." She chuckled to herself and started walking towards the doors. "You wanna come in and have some tea with me?" She now seemed distant too, just like she'd explained Zuko was. As if she'd turned off her emotions. Kiri squeezed her eyes together and tried to figure out what Katara was doing. "Sure", she mumbled and decided to keep a short distance to her. _I really don't think she's feeling okay… _


	23. Chapter 23 Bloodline

Bloodline

**Hey guys. Sorry for keeping you waiting so long for another chapter, I will try to post more often ;-)**

When they arrived at the airtemple, the mood between them hadn't changed at all. The air was still tense. Siku, and the two kids that were left of the group that had come to the temple before Kiri left for the Firenation, greeted them with a subtle dinner. Kiri still couldn't get her eyes off of Katara. She hadn't been acting like herself since they had their little talk about her and Zuko. She was smiling and chatting happily but Kiri could see that it was just an act. It was unnatural. Aang was also acting strange. Kiri wished she could help them; she would do anything to make everything go back to normal, and she wished that Zuko was there with them.

"So Aang, what are you planning on doing now?" Sokka asked while he fed Mika some carrot porridge. "Are you going to let Zuko do this?" Kiri observed Aang as he and Sokka was talking. He looked so tired. Aang folded his arms and sighed heavily. "Sokka, I really don't know what I should do. I can't do _this_. This is just wrong…" Kiri looked down at her hands. She knew that Aang was very determined on helping his best friend out and wasn't going to leave it at this. She said: "Aang, I think you should talk to the Earth King. Maybe he can help you and Zuko with fighting the rebels. I mean, he must be interested in world peace, right? And he does have some very talented soldiers." The two boys looked at her in surprise. She didn't usually join them when they talked strategies, but she felt like she needed to do something. She couldn't just sit and do nothing. Aang put his two index fingers at his temples – thinking. "I think that's a good idea, Kiri!" Sokka agreed as he'd thought it over. "The Earth King must be willing to help us out." They both looked at Aang and waited for his opinion. "Yes", he said while his eyes opened widely, "why didn't I think of that before?" He got up and rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Kiri and Sokka stumbled. They looked at each other and smiled, both knowing that the sooner they would start on fighting against the Phoenix King rebels, the sooner their lives would go back to normal – or more normal that is. Ever since had met Aang and all of his friends, she'd known that being around them meant that her life would never be normal. But that didn't scare her off. Sokka and her sat there and lazily stared at Mika who was playing with her little cup of water. She was so sweet. She looked a lot like Sokka; her skin was a golden brown color, just like her father's, and her hair was dark. Many of her features looked exactly like him. Though, her eyes were definitely Suki's; they were shaped like big almonds and had a blue color, reminding Kiri of the ocean. _When she grows up, she'd gonna be so beautiful, _Kiri thought to herself while she carelessly smiled at her. Suddenly, Mika dropped her cup, and then everything felt like it was going in slow motion. The cup was falling against the floor and Kiri tried to reach it before it hit but in her mind she'd been far away, thinking about Mika's future. When the cup hit, all the porcelain splintered out over the floor but the water in the cup didn't seem to follow along… It was… Hanging in the air? Kiri quickly looked at Sokka who was frozen in his seat, staring at the small ball of water hanging in the air. They were only the three of them in the room. "Who's doing that?" Sokka asked slowly but he hadn't noticed how his daughter was sitting. Kiri looked at her in amazement; she was sitting with her arms in a familiar pose that Kiri had seen Aang do a lot; when he was waterbending. "I think… Your daughter's a waterbender!" Kiri smiled and Mika looked up at her while she giggled proudly. "What?!" Sokka yelled and moved swiftly in his seat, to get a better look at Mika. Mika dropped her arms in confusion and the ball of water hit the ground with a gentle splashing sound. Kiri felt a bubbling sensation inside her stomach and yelled out: "Suki, Katara, come down here!" But for no use; they were already entering the kitchen. "Okay, who's yelling like that down here? Who smashed that before?" Suki asked complainingly and froze with Katara behind her when she saw the weird faces of the three persons sitting in the kitchen. Katara stepped out and asked: "What's going on here?" Kiri looked at Sokka; he didn't look like someone who was able to say anything. He was just staring at his daughter, a crooked smile on his lips. "Suki, your daughter just… She just waterbended."

"Oh brother, I'm so proud of you!" Katara sang out as she threw her arms around Sokka. "I can't believe I've thought of you as a nonbender all of these years, and now? You've actually had a child who can waterbend! That's amazing!" Sokka laughed, looking proudly at his wife and said: "I guess in runs in the bloodline, huh?" Kiri studied them as they sat there on the floor, all the three of them, surrounding Mika. _A little happy family_, she thought to herself while she smiled. Suddenly she was hugged from behind and lifted into the air by some familiar strong hands. "Hey stranger", she whispered out as she rested her head on his shoulder. The well-known smell of Aang filled her head and she suddenly realized they hadn't spent time together for a while. "I'm sorry if I haven't been there enough for you lately." He looked into her eyes as he kissed her quickly. They both turned to watch the family on the blanket beside them. Aang smiled and took her hand. He looked into her eyes. "I love you." His eyes sparkled with an unusual light.


	24. Chapter 24 Jealousy

Jealousy

**Hey guys. Did you see my new picture for this story? It's Kiri when she and Aang met the first time. I made it for you guys to see how I picture her, though you probably already have a picture of her in your heads ;-) Keep telling me what you think! **

The sky was almost a crimson red as the sun was setting. The clouds were few and painted small dots of pink over the beautiful sky. The air was filled with autumn's sweet fragrances and carried a cool wind with it. Kiri looked lazily at the scenario over Appa's saddle as she and Aang were flying towards the Earth Kingdom's capital – her hometown – Ba Sing Se. She didn't know how to feel about it; it had been so long since she'd last been there. Before leaving the others at the airtemple, she had felt like staying there too. But she knew Aang wanted her with him. It was a rather long journey on Appa, and they wanted to spend as much time as they could together. Even though they saw each other almost every day, Aang had lots of meetings and places to be when he was around Republic City. Kiri sighed heavily; the thoughts about going to Ba Sing Se again started forcing small moths – not butterflies – to prick in her stomach. She didn't know if she would be able to see the old house again. Not that she had to, but somewhere deep inside she could feel a longing for it. Supposedly for her dad.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Aang asked from Appa's head. Kiri woke up to reality, realizing she'd been slumbering in her own thoughts for quite a while. "Oh… Yeah, just nervous." She sent him a reassuring smile to let him know that she wasn't THAT overwhelmed by going back. After all, the war had ended and the fact that she was an airbender would only be looked at as amazing now. _Calm down…_ She told herself. Aang swooshed to her side and put his arms around her. "Are you cold? What are you thinking about?" He caressed her chin. "I'm fine, I'm fine… Don't worry about me." However Aang didn't seem to listen to her words. His eyes looked worried – sort of guilty? "Kiri, is this about Katara's feelings for me? I can assure you, I do not feel the same way about her anymore!" Kiri sat up in the saddle. _Has Katara talked to him about that? I would have thought I was the only one she'd talked to; giving thought that Aang is Zuko's best friend… Guess not. _"You know Aang; I really don't think that's relevant for the two of us to talk about. Do you? I mean, you already told me you have no feelings for her in that way at all, and I really don't want any drama like that. I could be mad at her, yell at her for still having feelings for you but to what purpose? I'm sick of drama. I love you and that's all that matters for me. If you love Katara; that would break my heart, but that's not something I could change now, is it? Jealousy is not my thing; I can't deal with it. I've tried to push it away 'cause it's not a healthy state of mind at all, you know? Of course I'm not a big fan of the two of you having kissed and all but it's not something any of us can change…" She stopped herself even though she could have continued. The words just seemed to pour directly from her heart. She couldn't get herself to look at him; _what is he gonna say? _She could feel him moving a bit away from her. The silence felt thick, pushing at her eardrums. _Why isn't he responding to what I just said? _Kiri felt a slight panic bubbling in her stomach and she forced her eyes to look at him. He smiled? His eyes were full of that same sparkling light from the day two weeks ago when they'd been watching Sokka, Suki and Katara when they had just found out that Mika was a waterbender. The spark made her feel nervous but excited at the same time. _What does it mean?_ She felt her heartbeat rise; he still made her body go crazy when he looked at her, butterflies twirling around. "Thank you for seeing it like that; you're so not like any other girl I've ever met before. That's why you're mine… Can I say that? Can I call you mine?" The nervousness left her immediately as she took his words in. "I think you very well know the answer to that question yourself, charmer," she said as she leaned in to kiss him. They laughed together and lay down on the brown leather saddle next to each other. Aang rolled to his side to look at her. "But regarding the whole Katara-thing; I wanna make sure you don't think that I have feelings for her." He said cautiously as he ran his hands down his balled head. The arrow was so beautiful. "When you tell me you don't, I believe you Aang." Kiri said as she studied his stunning features. _This is my boyfriend? Lucky me._

The time seemed to fly by as they came closer and closer to Ba Sing Se. They had had to make camp for two nights because both them and Appa had to do something else than fly. The second night they'd stumbled across a little town in the middle of nowhere it seemed, where they got a room. It was too cold to sleep outside and even though they'd tried to suck as much warmth out of Appa as possible the wind was still too cool. They'd been stopped on the street by two young women, probably in their twenties or so. "Oh wow, aren't you the Avatar?!" one of them, whose name, sooner to be revealed, was Yuni, yelled out. Aang, as humble as always, had politely greeted her and her friend. "I can't believe I'm standing here in front of the Avatar himself! Isn't this amazing Yakada?!" The two girls were obviously huge fans of Aang. They'd offered them to stay at their place for the night. Even though Kiri was grateful for that, she still didn't like the way the girls looked at Aang, at HER boyfriend. _I guess I haven't really been able to push jealousy completely out of my mind after all… _


	25. Chapter 25 Show What You've Got

Show What You've Got

"Kiri! Kiri! Kiri wake up!" she felt her whole body being shaken, a firm grip on her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see a hyper Aang looking at her with big expectant eyes and his mouth stretched out in a wide grin. "What?" She mumbled out with a hoarse voice; her body was still not aware of her brain starting up again. She rubbed her eye as Aang sat down on her bed and smiled at her. "You know, the two girls from yesterday? They wanna see us airbend, and they've gathered some people from the village to come and see us, isn't that great?" His words were rushed and you could see the impatience in his eyes. _Yeah… Greeeat._ This wasn't exactly something she would call great… She still remembered how the two girls were looking at her yesterday and now she was going to perform in front of them? _Yikes._ "Oh! And I told them that you were my girlfriend, they didn't know. Can you believe that? I mean, everyone can see we're together!" Kiri dropped her shoulders. _Even more yikes! _With an impatient pair of eyes watching her every move she got up and made herself ready for the day. She hadn't been airbending for quite some time and the nervousness of her going to do it in front of people she didn't know made her even slower than usual. "Come ooooon already, you look beautiful!" He groaned out and swirled to her side to put his arms around her. "As always", he whispered into her ear. "But Aang, they're expecting me to be good… I'm not! At least not compared to you!" She really didn't want to do it. "Ah quit that low-self-esteem-nonsense you're trying to pull off, you're really good! You've definitely become way better than you were when I first met you and even back then you were good! So come on!"

They were standing in the center of a big round circle of audience of about eleven people or so and a slight humming of expectation waved through the air. Aang was standing on her right and out of the corner of her eye, Kiri could see him smiling and waving back at the two girls Yuni and Yakada who were giggling girlishly at him. _Oh go to…_ "Okay, so what do you wanna see?" Aang asked and put his hands in front of him; making himself ready for bending. The girl Yakada raised her hand as she yelled out: "Anything Avatar Aang, I bet you can do everything!" Kiri wanted to smash her palm to her forehead. _"Anything Avatar Aang",_ she repeated inside her head, trying to imitate her. Aang looked at Kiri and smiled. "Ready for an air scooter?" He asked as he nudged her arm teasingly. She sighed out, closed her eyes and focused on the air around her. The fresh wind was helping her form the ball and she soon sat on it and started `driving´ around. Suddenly Aang bumped into her almost making her fall down. _Stupid guy, what are you…_ He was sending her a teasing look and she immediately went for him. _Take that!_ She thought to herself as she bumped into him. She could hear the audience clapping but she tuned it out. The nervousness disappeared when she only focused on him. They quickly moved on to playfully fighting each other with gentle gusts of air and small balls of air. When they stopped Kiri realized she'd pulled it off: She'd actually been able to keep up with Aang without being humiliated even once! She couldn't help but smile. "See, that wasn't bad at all, was it? Have you been practicing while I was gone?" He whispered as they walked to the center of the circle again. She just smiled at him and stuck her tongue out. _I'm so not letting you have that many wins over me in Airball_, she thought to herself. Yuni was now raising her hand: "Can we see only Aang bending? We really wanna see you bend all of the elements!" The volume of the audience rose in agreement. Aang sent her a pair of questioning eyes. "You're their idol, do what'cha gotta do!" She smiled out as she felt grateful for being able to leave the center of attention. She sat down by a wall near the circle and watched from there. He started with earth. His body swiftly changed from being like his normal self into a more firm silhouette as he forced a medium size rock out of the ground. His muscles were dancing. A high pitch voice made her look away from him. "Can you believe SHE's the Avatar's girlfriend? She wasn't even good at airbending. And did you hear it? Yakada told me they weren't even sleeping in the same room?! Ha! If I was the Avatar's girlfriend I would definitely not let him out of my sight, I mean, look at him! He's soooo gorgeous!" The girl talking was a lean black haired girl standing close to Kiri. Did she know she was right behind her? "Are you kidding me? That's so childish. But I bet he doesn't even wanna sleep with her, I mean, she's not even pretty. Did you see her hair?" Kiri couldn't tune their voices out; it was like they WANTED her to hear their conversation. She closed her eyes and focused on the vibrations of the ground. It didn't work. "Ha ha, exactly! But we shouldn't worry about her, I mean, they haven't even made it official yet or anything. Besides, have you seen her outfit? So last year! Or should I say, last decade." The girls laughed and Kiri noticed one of them shooting a quick glance at her. _So yeah… They do know I'm right behind them_. She decided to leave the assembly and went to see if Appa still was having a good time in the barn in the outskirts of the village. An elderly couple had warmly welcomed him to stay at their barn for the time they were in the village. _"Such a fantastic creature needs a warm and big place to sleep"_.

Appa was sound asleep as she entered the barn. He was lying on a big pile of soft-looking hay with his tongue hanging lazily from one of the corners of his mouth. She smiled to herself and sat down next to him, padding him gently. Her touch woke him up and he slothfully licked her face with his warm wet tongue. "I've missed you too!" She laughed out and gave him a little push. She thought about Aang who probably still was being admired by the mean girls in the village. Appa moaned and put his head back on the hay. "I know the feeling buddy…"


	26. Chapter 26 Ba Sing Se

Ba Sing Se 

**Hey guys! I wanna call it out again: THANK YOU for your reviews, favs and follows! You're really what keeps me going with this story :-D I really want to know how you picture Kiri, what does she look like in your heads? ;-) Thanks for the support! **

They were in the air again getting closer and closer to Ba Sing Se. Today was the day when they were supposed to reach the city. Kiri had gotten more used to the thought of seeing the city again but she still had a little nudging feeling in her stomach. She was lying on her back; daydreaming about the lemurs back at the temple. She missed their gurgling noises and their playfulness. It felt like ages since they left the temple because the time on Appa seemed monotonous. "I really hope King Kuei will help us out with the Phoenix King rebels." Aang pondered out loud in a deep voice. Kiri sat up in the big leather saddle and looked at him. His clothes were fluttering softly in the afternoon wind and his face had a grave look. "Yeah, me too", Kiri agreed. She had never met the Earth King himself and therefore didn't know how he would respond to their request. But what she did know about him was what Aang and the others had told her; he was never aware of the Hundred Year War and solely a puppet of the cruel minister Long Feng. But after realizing this with the help of Aang, he did everything he could to stand up and be the king he was supposed to be. _He must be interested in helping Aang. If the rebels keep their current pace, they will soon be too powerful…_ She thought to herself while eyeing the skyline. Aang turned his head to look at her and signed her with his finger to look down. And there it was – Ba Sing Se.

The city looked majestic as they were flying towards it. Kiri had never seen it from this angle; the size of it was unbelievable. The enormous impenetrable walls surrounded the different rings of the city and from up here you could easily see the giant Royal Palace in the middle of the upper ring. Kiri had never seen it before because of the city's big size and the fact that she'd been living in the outer ring. She felt the nudging in her stomach grow bigger as she scouted the area of her old home in the outer ring as they flew closer. Aang made Appa fly close to the ground by the outer wall and pointed to a big sign on the wall; "常に戦う" (always fight) it said. "This is where the old Firenation tried to penetrate the walls to take over the city", he said. Kiri's eyes flew open. "Are you serious? What happened?" She felt her heart pound heavier; even though she hadn't been living there for a long time she still saw it as her childhood home, and this news chocked her. _Had the old Firenation really been that close to taking over the world? _The thought made her shrug. "Team Avatar stopped them of course", he said with a blink in his eye, "yip yip!" They flew over the city and approached the upper ring. _They've really been all over the world? That's remarkable…_ She thought about all the stories Aang had told her about his and the other's journeys. She wished that she had known them then; that she could have helped them in their hard struggles. But they had managed perfectly fine; because of them the world was now starting to heal itself. She smiled and felt her heart grow big. She couldn't believe Aang – her boyfriend – the Avatar – had been able to change that much in an age of twelve. "You're really amazing, you know that?" She smiled out, her voice filled with devotion. He turned his head to send her a smile and an air kiss. The Spirits had really granted her a blessed life after all of her hard times during the war. `Thank you´ she mouthed as they proceeded on landing near the Royal Palace of Ba Sing Se. A loud horn sounded as the guards standing outside realized the Avatar had arrived. When landed, Aang held out his hand for Kiri to take and they swiftly jumped down on the ground, a gentle gust of air twirling around them. Two guards greeted them: "Honoured Avatar and friend; welcome to Ba Sing Se!" Aang smiled and continued holding Kiri's hand. This made her comfortable. "Thank you sir, is there a possibility that we can see King Kuei as soon as possible?" One of the guards stepped a slight inch closer, saying: "The King is currently in a private meeting, why don't you enjoy our wonderful city for a while until the King is done?"

They were sitting in one of the trains leading towards the outer ring of the city and Kiri was staring out the window, gazing upon the marvelous city. The nudging grew stronger and stronger as the train passed several tall and massive buildings. She didn't know why she was this nervous; she wasn't going to see anything there besides maybe the house. Aang had insisted on going there even though Kiri had objected. She wanted to but something inside her told her not to. She didn't how she was going to react if the house wasn't there anymore. Aang was talking to a couple beside him that obviously couldn't believe they were sitting in the public train next to the Avatar. Kiri smiled. Aang could really not go anywhere without people stopping him on the street to talk to him. He was like a celebrity. But then again, he did make it easy for people to notice him; he always wore the monks' clothes and his balled head with the blue arrow tattoo wasn't something anyone was used to seeing. Even Kiri would catch herself staring at the blue tattoos, probably in a mix of acknowledgment and envy. Kiri mindlessly started fixing her braid. When she was younger, he father always braided the hair hanging from the area around her right ear. _"To prevent bad language to stick to your brain"_ he'd said. She smiled to herself and shook her head. Her father had always been full of crazy stories and myths. But they, together with him, were the things she could look back to with a smile on her lips. Aang poked her shoulder: "Kiri, this is our stop."


	27. Chapter 27 Pride

Pride 

Kiri and Aang were walking down a narrow street full of children playing around with sheets and rocks. They were playing "Avatar" – a game Kiri could remember was very popular when she was a little kid too. "Hey, I hit you with a big rock, you gotta fall down!" A kid was waving with his sheet, yelling: "Na-ah, 'cause I was airbending it out of my way!" Aang and Kiri looked at each other and smiled while slowly walking past them. It was really weird for her to be back in her own old neighborhood again but the nervous nudging in her stomach had disappeared. It felt good for her to be back, the familiar buildings still looking exactly like they did years ago when she had been living there. You could easily see that they were in the outer ring of the city; the people here wore old clothes and the buildings weren't as well maintained as in the upper ring. Three little boys stopped them on the street. "Excuse me mister, but aren't you the Avatar?" one of the small boys asked as he pulled slightly in Aang's shirt. Their eyes were big as they studied his features; it was very unlikely for the Avatar to be at places like this, not something you would expect. "Yes, I'm Aang." The boys looked at each other in amazement, their mouths open and eyes big with surprise. "Oh wow, can we get your autograph, sir?" One of the boys pulled out a wrinkled old paper with a drawing of Aang and a small pencil. Kiri's heart grew big as she studied the three boys as Aang was writing his autograph. They were simply staring at him, astonished to be looking at their hero himself. "Is it true that you were the one who stopped the big evil drill from coming to destroy our city?" "And did you really fight hundreds of Feng's soldiers?" "Do you really have a big ox that can fly?" The boys were shooting the best questions they had at Aang. Aang laughed and sat down, leveling his head with theirs. "Yes, I do have a flying bison. His name is Appa, tonight I will probably fly over this exact spot, so if you guys wanna see him, be sure to be here. And yes, I did stop the drill and minister Feng but I couldn't have done it without my friends. It is very important always to help out your friends when they need you; even the Avatar needs help sometimes." Aang took three small rocks from the ground and in his hands he reshaped them into three small arrows. "Here, take these and always remember to help each other out, alright?"

The boys waved at them as Kiri and Aang went along to find her old home. When they walked around the corner Kiri nudged his arm: "You're really good with kids, you know that?" He smiled while his cheeks reddened a little. "On the inside I'm still a kid. But to be honest, I don't really like the way they looked at me, like I was their hero. I mean, I know I'm the Avatar and all but…" Kiri silenced him with a quick kiss. "Aang, to everyone else besides yourself, you ARE a hero. You were the one who were able to defeat Ozai, to stop the old Firenation. See it from their point of you – the citizens of Ba Sing Se – if you hadn't stopped that drill, who knows how many homes would have been wrecked?" His cheeks flamed as they carried on walking. "I just still don't see myself like that…" Kiri caringly put her arm around his shoulder: "Well, everyone else does." He smiled a shy smile at her as they walked around another corner. This made Kiri stop abruptly. This was her street. Here, she'd played a thousand times as a kid, knowing all the people who were living here. The street was still full of life; small stalls with food and clothing colored the otherwise grey facades while animals and children were playing, their noises filled the air. She grabbed Aang's hand firmly as she continued to walk towards her old home. She hadn't come this far to turn around. Her blood seemed to pump through her veins even more eagerly than before. "Where is it?" Aang asked as she pulled him along. "Just behind that stall over there…" She whispered more to herself than to answer his question. And there it was.

The house was still standing as it did when she'd left. The color of the brown walls had faded though and the clothes hanging from the clothesline were of someone else. The house was smaller than she remembered and her body was like paralyzed when she watched the window of her old room on the second floor. She remembered the many times when she'd wanted to just fly away from it; to reach the clouds in the sky and taste them while fully being able to bend all the air she wanted. Airbending had been a secret for her and her father to keep but when she was little, she wanted to be able to show the whole world, especially the Firenation, that they hadn't been able to destroy all of them – _all of us._ "Sweetie, are you okay?" Aang asked while his eyes watched her carefully. She didn't look at him; her eyes were stuck on the house. Her stomach churned and her eyes started stinging as when smoke cover them with its poisonous dust. "Aang, what would it take for me to earn the arrow tattoos?" She knew that this question would startle him but she didn't look at him. She remembered the many times her father had yelled at her for airbending without the windows covered. _Why didn't he stand up for who he was? Why did he hide? He should have been proud to be an airbender!_ _He should have fought!_ Warm salty liquid started running down her cheeks as she was standing there. Aang had put his arms around her. "Kiri, what…" His voice was filled with confusion. She now looked at him, tears still streaming down her face. "I wanna show the world what I am. I wanna show them that no matter how much they try, they will never put an end to us. I am an airbender and I've never felt prouder!" Aang hugged her hard, letting her tears fall down on his shoulder. Her throat tightened as she led out all of her feelings: sorrow for the loss of her father, frustrations about him never being able to show the world his true self, happiness that she'd found her true love Aang, pride of being an airbender – all of it at the same time. She hid her face in Aang's clothes; a comforting feeling filled her stomach as she could smell his familiar fragrance and feel his soothing firm muscles around her. This was home. "When we get back to the temple, I will talk to Suki. You will have to go through a test to see if you are worthy of the arrows… But I think you're ready." He whispered softly as he kissed her head.


	28. Chapter 28 Invigoration

Invigoration

**Hey guys. Again - thanks for the reviews! Please, keep telling me what you think of the story's progress! I really love hearing your thoughts, it really helps me feeling that my story's not for nothing **

"With all due respect your Earthiness, I don't believe this has anything to do with that." Aang was trying to convince the Earth King Kuei to help Zuko with tackling the Pheonix King rebels. This was harder than they'd both thought before coming to the Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se. King Kuei was misunderstanding everything – he thought of it as an attempt of the Firenation to have the earth kingdom soldiers at their will and might use it as an attack on the Earth Kingdom itself. Kiri could understand him though. With the history of the relationship between the Earth Kingdom and Firenation, King Kuei was smart to consider it thoroughly. What he didn't understand was that the new Firelord Zuko was nothing like his father. "Firelord Zuko has proven to you so many times that he's not aiming for world domination!" Aang said in a rather loud voice. Kiri could see a vein angrily pumping in his throat and she put her arm on his to calm him down. She knew that this was important for them; they needed to convince Kuei on helping Zuko out and anger wouldn't help. The Earth King was watching the Avatar with tight eyes. Their relationship was nothing but good; Aang had always showed him that he was only interested in the wealth of the Earth Kingdom. "What do you feel about this Bosco?" Kiri couldn't believe her eyes as she saw him turn his head to ask his pet bear beside him. _Is he actually talking strategies with his bear?_ The big brown bear eyed his master lazily as he growled out in an idle tone. "Hm… Interesting" King Kuei replied as he put one finger to his lower lip, thinking all the details over once more. Kiri shot a glance around the room. They were standing in the greeting hall; the place where King Kuei would accept higher stated guests. Surrounding them were tall marble columns and by every single one of them stood a Dai Li agent, ready for protecting their King. "Bosco seems to agree with me that it is very dangerous to send off that many agents… But on the other hand we're both interested in keeping the world peace. See this as an agreement!" King Kuei clapped his small hands and laughed out lamely. "But!" He raised his finger and looked at Aang with a piercing almost scary stare. "IF something goes wrong, IF the Firenation are up to no good, I will see this as you siding with them and nothing more. See this as a warning, Avatar Aang." His face then went from grave to overly joyful again as he rose to his feet and pulled his bear Bosco up on its hind legs and started dancing with it. _This guy's insane_, Kiri thought to herself as she watched him while shaking her head slightly. Aang took her hand as he said: "Thank you for you most appreciated understanding Earth King Kuei, I will immediately let Zu… The Firelord know that you will help him! Thank you!" They left the room quickly and went for the stair leading them down to the exit. Kiri couldn't wait to get up in the air again – this place, the upper ring, had a weird air circulating around it, letting the people get weird too. When they reached Appa, Aang turned around to smile at her. "Everything went as we wanted; I can't wait to let Zuko know!" He jumped up and Kiri followed. It was dark now and the night had brought a small breeze of warm air with it. "But Aang, we're not going to the Firenation now, are we? I mean, Zuko will be so angry with you if he sees you left Katara and the others…" She really didn't want to go back to the Royal Palace of the Firenation; the travel would take forever on Appa and she wanted to go to the temple and be… home. Luckily, Aang didn't pick up her hidden motives and said: "Yeah, you're probably right." He jumped down and ran over to a guard who quickly took out a small flute and blew it. He lent Aang a scroll of paper and a pen and after what seemed like half a minute, a messenger bird landed on the guard's arm. They sent the messenger bird off as soon as Aang finished his writing and Kiri and Aang were soon up in the air, riding on Appa over Ba Sing Se. The city looked even more beautiful during the night as the many lights shined brightly up at them, blinking like thousands of small stars. "Where are you headed?" Kiri asked as she could see they weren't going west in the direction of Republic City. "I promised those kids I'd fly over their street, didn't I?"

Kiri smiled at her boyfriend as he guided Appa towards the northern side of the lower ring of the giant city. _Simply amazing_, she thought to herself as she looked down on the many houses with shining windows. As they approached the street where they were supposed to be seen by the boys Appa slowed down and lowered its huge body as much as possible. Aang seemed to be scouting the area for the boys but it was hard to point out anything from this angle. Suddenly Kiri noticed a big gathering of people and she pointed it out to hm. "What is that?" He wondered out loud as they flew closer. Beneath them were standing probably about twenty kids or more, each one of them holding a blue piece of cardboard, together all of them formed a huge blue arrow. "This is all of our friends!" One of the kids yelled out and they all started cheering for Aang and waved with each their piece of the arrow. Kiri laughed surprisingly and started cheering with them. She studied Aang as he was looking down on all of his fans with a huge grin on his face. This was really good for him; _he must know how much he means to the world_. He waved at them and then turned Appa's big tail towards them and with a big _swoosh_, she and Aang were on their way home. She silently watched him from the big leather saddle. She could see his face was painted with an invigorating expression. Something glimpsed near the corner of his eye. _Is he crying? _She smiled to herself and let him enjoy this moment in silence. She hoped he would finally understand how much he meant to the people of the world – the people he'd given his life to protect.


	29. Chapter 29 Determined Yet Holding Back

Determined Yet Holding Back

Sweat was breaking from her forehead as she forced her exhausted arms into making another big ball of air. She could feel the air stretching around it but managed to get it to spin around. Her breath was heavy as she made it go around in a circle while spinning. She smiled contently and let the ball disappear into the air and let herself fall down on the soft grass. It had been a month since they day where she'd decided to aim for the arrows of the master and she'd trained several hours every day to become better than she'd ever been before. The fresh wind caressed her steaming body as she lay there, waiting for her blood to pump with a normal speed again. She was finally starting to believe that she might pass the test to earn the arrows. _"To earn the arrows of the master you have to show your teachers – who will be monk Aang and I – that it is right for you to wear them. This will include a simple but very important drill that is called `the leaf´ and you will have to present, after your own measures, your best airbending technique. To pass this test, all of your masters – Aang and I – will have to agree whether they find your skills satisfying or not." _It was nun Siku and Aang who were to judge her, Aang of course because of him being an airbending master himself and Siku because she'd studied the history and norms of the airbenders for ages and knew probably even more about them than Aang. Kiri felt nervous; she didn't know if the test would be too demanding – what if she couldn't do it? _If only Aang would tell me what `the leaf´ is…_ She thought as she plaited her fingers into the long green grass. This made her anxious again and she quickly rose to her feet in a wind of air and started practicing again. She needed to figure out what she was to show the judg- Siku and Aang. She could hear Aang and Sokka work in the other garden to the west. After Kiri had announced that she wanted to take the test, Aang had been very secretive about everything he did. It was only one week since he came home after having been away for eleven days on some `secret trip´.

There hadn't been much talk about the commotion in the Firenation since they received a letter from Zuko, saying that they were handling the situation as good as they could, and thanks to the Dai Li agents Aang managed to send over, it was going better than they'd dreamed of. He was counting on being able to visit the airtemple in January; only one month from now. After receiving the letter, Katara had gone back to her normal self. You could tell she was missing her husband like never before and Kiri could tell she didn't try to hide any emotions at the moment, like she'd done when they first arrived here. Kiri shook her head as she realized she'd been gazing away in a daydream; she needed to be focused on her task in front of her. Even though the problems with the rebels indeed were more serious, she needed to do this for herself; she needed to show the world who she was, and that she was good at it. She sensed something coming towards her from behind and quickly stepped to the left, avoiding it with a blow of air. She turned around to see Katara standing with a grin on her face, a big bubble of water in front of her. "You ready for some sparring?" she asked. Kiri sent her a smile and went into her fighting position. "You bet!" The two girls spent the rest of the day practicing their bending. Even though Kiri was good at airbending, Katara was even better at bending water. She looked very elegant as she kept lunging whips of water at her. She almost looked one with the water, as if the water was a mere extension of her limps.

After dinner, Kiri and Aang made their way to his room by flying up there with his glider. She loved flying like that with him, her lying on the top of the glider, him underneath it, and both of them bending air under its `wings´. It was very intimate though, their bodies were so close to each other and Kiri always blushed heavily when they reached the ground again. Aang threw himself on his bed as he sighed out deeply: "Man, it's been a long day!" Kiri followed his example and looked at him. His breath was deep; he almost sounded like someone who was asleep. "I could help you do whatever it is you do if you'd let me, you know", she said innocently. She didn't want him to catch her hidden message. He did. "As if! It's a secret and you'll see it the day you earn your arrows." She sighed and rolled onto her back. "IF I earn them…" He sat up on the bed, leaning his weight on his arm. "I know you will, you're really improving every day." He smiled at her and took a lock of her hair and put it gently behind her ear. She couldn't help but smile at his adorable face. The setting sun made his eyes glow with a violet tint to it as he studied her, his lips stretched into the teasing smile she loved so much. He leaned down, his face close to hers, as he just kept smiling. She could feel his chest being inches away from hers and she shot him a nervous glance. _What are you doing Aang?_ But he seemed calm as he kissed both her shoulders and then her mouth. His touch was so gentle. The wild animal inside her started to growl within her and she could feel the hunger for him grow in her stomach. _This isn't good…_ "Aang…" He cut her off by putting a finger to her mouth and let his hand feel its way from her chin, down her neck to her shoulder and then farther down her arm. The touch was followed by a deep chill under her skin. This was almost too much, she couldn't bare it anymore; she just wanted to close the few inches of air between them and feel his torso against hers. "Aang!" The door was yanked open and Sokka came running into the room, unaware of the fact that Aang was occupied. "Hey Aang, I'm… What are yo- I AM SO SORRY!" Sokka came to an abrupt stop as he saw what was going on, and he threw his hands up to cover his eyes. "I am truly sorry to ha…" "GET OUT!" Aang yelled as he yanked up from the bed and half-pushed Sokka out of the room. Kiri was on the bed, paralyzed. _What did just happen? Did Sokka just see us…? Oh no! What isn't he thinking? It's not like we were doing anything like that… Oh man, I'm SO embarrassed!_ Aang shot her an innocent look as his cheeks burned with awkwardness. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" Aang started out but his words drowned into nothing as he watched her. She couldn't help but smile at him.


	30. Chapter 30 That Look

That Look

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry I haven't been posting for a long time; I just haven't had the motivation to carry on with the story. Maybe I'll stop it, I don't know. What do you guys think should happen next? I have a feeling that I need more suspense – things are a little too good to be true right now… Let me know what you think!**

"Come on princess; show me what you've got!" Kiri dropped her shoulders in defeat and looked at the woman standing several feet away. Her breath was heavy and her muscles aching. "Toph, I can't bend anymore; I need a break!" Another rock was shot at her and this time it nearly hit her, though she was able to avoid it by bending the air under her, so she flew over it. "Oh yeah? Do you think the rebels will give you a break when they see your little ass in front of them? I don't! So give me what you've got, twinkles!" Kiri knew Toph was right; she needed to push herself, she needed to be ready for a possible confrontation with the Phoenix King rebels. Kiri was so exhausted from the sparring with Toph; she just knew how to push Kiri to her limits. Toph always knew how to push her buttons and this time wasn't any different. Since they'd arrived at the temple again, Toph had in some way tried to gain the role of Kiri's personal trainer, much to Kiri's annoyance. She liked Toph but not when she called her names and shot rocks at her face. When Kiri sparred with the others, Aang or Katara, they knew when to stop; Toph didn't. But Kiri also knew that she wasn't strong enough to hold her ground against an enemy yet; she knew that she would be the one to fall down first if it came to a battle against the fire-shooting bastards. When she looked at the others, Katara, Aang, Toph… ALL of them; she knew that they were much better than her. And she needed to be strong like them; she wanted to.

Kiri looked at Toph who were standing with a huge grin on her face, knowing she'd hit right in the soft spot. Kiri took a deep breath, air in through the nose and out the mouth, and she forced her hands to create a whirling wind that she sent towards Toph. She threw herself in the air as she made the air around her go in circles, creating a sort of wheel going from her head to her feet and rushed towards her sparring partner. She avoided all the heavy rocks that were coming for her, pushing her air-wheel in the directions she needed and when she was finally close enough, she pumped out her arm and shot a hard gust of air directly at Toph's face. Her eyes shot wide open as she saw the earthbender fall to the ground with a yelp of surprise. Kiri landed lightly on the ground and let her wheel disappear into the thin air. She rushed to Toph's side and reached out a hand to help her up as she heard a small applause coming from the southern side of the garden. Toph mumbled something incomprehensible as she got to her feet. Kiri looked to see Aang and Sokka clapping their hands and cheering with grins on their faces. _Had they been watching this whole time?_ "Shut up, Twinkle Toes!" Toph yelled as she walked past Kiri with a hard look on her face. "You can have your break now, princess, good fight." Kiri started smiling, finally realizing what she'd actually done. Did she just take down the greatest earthbender in the world? The thrilling feeling gave her a new energy and she rushed over to the two guys that had been watching her. Aang greeted her with a big hug, an approving smile on his face. "You were amazing, baby! How did you do that?" She could see his eyes were filled with curiosity and she gave him a questioning stare. "Do what?" She couldn't have done anything Aang didn't know about, right? After all, he was her airbending master. "You know, that air-wheel thing, it was amazing! It's like the air-scooter, just much better!" She found herself blushing at his words and a rushing feeling inside her stomach. She wasn't sure how to respond; she had never impressed him like this, not with her airbending skills. He looked at her with his beautiful grey eyes filled with something she hadn't seen before. Pride? "Those arrows will fit you so well." He kissed her passionately, letting her mind go numb and her knees weak. She felt his tongue push lightly at her lips and she let him enter her mouth, yelping out a small moan of surprise and pleasure as she tasted him. This was new. The outside world seemed to disappear as he kissed her like that and the too familiar animal inside of her stomach roared to life. Her cheeks began to burn and her lungs craved for air, but she couldn't make herself pull away. "Guys! Eew!" Aang pulled away from her as Sokka's voice made the two of them realize they weren't alone. "I saw enough of that yesterday; you're giving me the oogies!" Kiri felt the embarrassment flush over her once again. "Sorry Sokka, we'll keep it at a minimum…" Aang's voice was trembling and Kiri felt heat beaming from his body. She couldn't help but giggle to herself; she loved that she had this effect on him. She poked him lightly on the shoulders as they walked back to the temple and sent him a teasing smile. "Yeah, you better be grateful you're not able to firebend," he growled, reminding her of the day she'd made him shoot fire from his hands just by kissing him. A warm feeling ran through her veins as they entered the kitchen where the others waited so they could start dinner. During the whole dinner she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Pling, pling, pling. The sound of metal hitting glass rang through the air. They all looked up to see Aang standing at the end of the table with a smile on his lips. "I've really been looking forward to saying this…" Kiri shot him a nervous glare as his eyes rested at her. _To say what, to say what?_ "Siku and I have discussed this during dinner, and…" Suki kicked her leg lightly under the table and mouthed something at her. Kiri couldn't tell what and she quickly turned her eyes to Aang again, wanting to know what was going on. "Siku and I have decided that Kiri is ready for her test." Kiri felt her eyes widen. _What?! That was supposed to be in like… Not now!_ The others around the table clapped their hands, all eyes awaiting her respond. But she was like frozen. "When?" she heard herself ask with a tiny voice. Her throat was filled with a clump of nervousness. Both Aang and Siku looked at her with that same look in their eyes as Aang had had in the garden, before dinner. Pride? "Tomorrow at noon."

**Please tell me what you think! Do you think Kiri is ready for the arrows of the master?**


	31. Chapter 31 This Is It

This is it

**Thanks to DangerouslySilent and lizzybeifong for supporting me! Lots of loooove to you :-D **

Her night had been a complete disaster; a mix of nightmares about flunking the test and not being able to sleep. She decided it was okay to leave her bed at around six in the morning and she went outside to breath in the cool morning air. The earth was solid because of the frost of the night and with her breath came big clouds of damp that slowly disappeared into the air in front of her. Her body felt wrong. All of her muscles were aching from yesterday's hard training and because of the lack of sleep, her brain also seemed to have difficulties thinking clearly. _Perfect… Well done Kiri, on perhaps the most important day of your life…_ She sighed out heavily. She felt her jaw starting to jitter. The winter had definitely come to Republic City and brought with it its short days and long, dark and icy nights. She started shaking her legs and arms to get the blood running. She needed to be totally ready in about five hours for… She pushed the thought away; it made her too nervous to think about it. She soon felt her body loosen up as she started getting hotter from her exercises and started being able to kick higher and sway her back deeper. She continued her work-out, always staying light on her feet and pushing small balls of air around her. _Okay… Siku said something about… I need to show them something that I feel is one of my best techniques – or the best… _She hadn't really thought about what she was going to show her judges, Siku and Aang, yet because she'd thought that the test would be several months from now. She still had her body going; now she was running in a big circle in the garden, always with air under them, so she could go faster. _What is my best technique? _She asked herself, well aware that she couldn't answer it herself. _Was it the tornado-whip?_ She remembered when she'd used it the first time; two birds had been very persistent on singing right above her head very early in the morning several years ago. She'd been sleeping in a forest she didn't know, so she hadn't found a perfect place for herself yet. And that was definitely not it. Kiri smiled to herself as she remembered how surprised the birds sounded as they'd been captured in a whirling wind and sent off the branch they'd been sitting on. _No, not good enough… Hm, aaargh, why does it have to be this difficult?!_ She threw herself on the ground, regretting immediately as she scraped her arm against the rock-hard earth. _Wonderful! _She started going through all of the tricks she could remember as she sat on the ground, lotus position like Aang always did. Her mind felt frozen – just like the ground.

"Miss Kiri? Sir Avatar Aang sent for you…" a tiny voice behind her made her jump up from her sitting position to look at the orphan boy looking at her with a humble look in his eyes. "Sezun please, I've told you like a hundred times; you really don't have to be this formal." She couldn't help but smile at him though. They hadn't been able to find him a home since the day the group of young kids had arrived at the temple. He was always very cautious around them; as if he felt ashamed of being helped out. "Sorry miss" the tiny voice complied. She shook her head at him while giving him a smile. However, her smile soon turned into a frown as she realized why Sezun was there. He was to tell her that Aang and Siku was waiting for her… Waiting for her to show them her best airbending skills. Sweat started breaking from her forehead and she felt a slight dizziness tumble around in her head. _Come on Kiri, pull yourself together! You need to do this!_ She breathed in heavily through her nose. She finally made her legs move. They were waiting in the western garden; where Aang and Sokka had been working the last couple of days on something secret. Her legs felt soft; she had a hard time getting her body to do what she wanted it to. This was the time she'd been waiting for; this was the time when she needed to show them everything she'd been working on for the last couple of weeks, actually her whole life that is. She had decided that she couldn't show them only one airbending technique; she had put together a sort of composition of different tricks. She didn't know if that was `legal´ and the thought of her failing the test because she didn't follow the rules properly made her even more nervous. This had to work…

The western garden looked, to Kiri's surprise, totally different than from what it had done the last time she saw it. To her left, Siku and Aang sat on each their cushion, both looking at her with expectant eyes. To their right, the others were sitting; the thought of having an audience hadn't really stricken her mind before and she felt the familiar ball of nervousness tighten her throat. Several meters from Siku and Aang was a thing Kiri had never seen before. It was a big platform that was raised on the before nude hill at the back of the garden. On the platform there was a strange-looking advice where several gates – probably fifteen or so – were standing in a circle, forming something that looked like an obstacle course. The gates were beautiful and Kiri felt drawn towards them. The wooden gates had a beige color, framed with striking dark brown patterns and designs and in the middle, the symbol of air stood out with its bright blue color. She felt her heartbeat rising as she touched one of the gates. It reminded her so much of her grandfather Matsu. The gates sent off a mild and soothing atmosphere through her body; a feeling she could remember from when she was very young when her granddad had still been alive. She could feel him now as if he was touching her. Salty tears started streaming down her face much to her own surprise. The warmth of family overwhelmed her body and she couldn't help but smile. _Are you really still watching over me granddad?_ A pair of arms hugged her from behind and Aang's soothing voice tickled her by her left ear: "Amazing, aren't it? It's almost a two thousand year old relic from the southern airtemple." He wiped her tears away and kissed her quickly but lovingly on her mouth. "The mechanism was used for the monks to understand the most basic airbending techniques and that's what `the leaf´ is. You are ready for the test?" He looked at her, still arms around her, with his calm grey eyes. Her body was filled with every emotion possible; nervousness, love, sorrow, need, eagerness… But she felt her head nod at him and her feet took her to stand in front of Siku. She bowed at her judges. This was it.

**ARGH, so excited for Kiri! Please review :-D **


	32. Chapter 32 Judgment

Judgment

**Okay, I should probably rate this chapter M… WARNING! BAD LANGUAGE! Sorry if I offend any readers out there. **

"Okay, this mechanism is a test that will show if you move like airbenders are supposed to. As an airbender, it is important to be able to move with the wind and feel all its waves through the air both small and big. Let me give you a demonstration…" Aang held out a small leaf as he shot a gust of air at the mechanism, making the wooden gates spin. He then pushed the leaf towards the gates and showing off its purpose. The small leaf was carried by the wind in and between the spinning gates, elegantly making its way through without ever touching them. _Okay, so this is `the leaf´… Not the biggest test, just to show that you've got the basics…_ She tried to calm herself down but the dizziness still circled around inside her head. Aang put a calming hand on her shoulder. His warm fingers actually helped.

"It is a tradition that when trying to earn the arrows, the monks would got through these gates, following the leaf. You have to follow it without changing its course. This means that you can't change the course of the wind with your presence… Got it?" He gave her his best smile as he was joined by his fellow-judge Siku and they took their seats. She held the leaf in her hand and slowly breathed in and out. A small `dong´ sounded through the silent garden, as Siku had started the test. Kiri quickly lifted the leaf into the air and shot a gust of air at the gates and then the leaf. She could easily feel the vibrations in the air; the spinning gates made her mind go clearer like she needed to look at something spinning to feel that her head wasn't just playing games with her. She was approximately one meter behind the leaf, mimicking its every movement. Her body felt good; her muscles warmed up and her joints smooth. She entered through two spinning gates as the leaf calmly made its way deeper and deeper in between the gates. She felt the air waving at her clothes, orange, yellow and red. She was very proud to wear these ropes. The leaf was calm and so was she. Her mind had blocked out everything else than this green little thin paper and she felt like one herself. How she was able to smoothly round her body in the ways she wanted, her feet light and quick. It felt amazing. The leaf calmly flew out of the last two spinning gates and so did she. She silently made the gates stop as she realized her test was over. _Have I really done that already?!_

She could have stayed in there forever. Her body had been so calm and light. She yelped out in happiness as she saw the huge smile crossing Aang's sweet lips. She'd done it! She quickly made her way to stand in front of her judges with her stomach feeling like a happy turmoil of ticklish butterflies. "Very good job airbender Kiri, you did very well!" Siku bowed her head approvingly at her. Kiri felt the urge to jump up and down while screaming but she restrained herself. "Passed!" Aang yelled out happily followed by the others cheering. Kiri couldn't stop smiling. She'd taken herself one step closer to earning the arrows. _Way to go Kiri!_ she thought to herself, _now you only need the other part…_ Her smile faded as she realized she'd passed the `easy´ test and now the difficult one was awaiting her. She cleared her throat and shook her head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts that could distract her. Siku looked at her with calm yet judging eyes. "Now, you are supposed to show us what you think is your best airbending technique. It has to be original and an expression of how you see yourself as an airbender and a person in general. Do you understand the rules?" Kiri nodded her head, determined to let them know that she could do this. She didn't feel nervous anymore; she knew what she wanted and had to do. She went through the composition in her head. It could work… It had to.

She was in the middle of her composition when she fell. _Shit!_ The double air-kick she'd worked so hard on had failed and she felt her body slowly nearing the hard rocks beneath her. In panic she formed a layer of up-shooting air under her, forcing her body to shoot up in the air again. She couldn't control her body. She could hear a light gasp go through the audience as she started to fall to the ground again, head first. This couldn't happen. In a panicky movement she forced the air to circle around her, head to toe, forming the weird air-scooter she'd driven when sparring with Toph the day before. She managed to dodge her body in an up-standing position again as she surfed through over the ground on her wheel of air. The adrenaline pumped through her veins as she drove in a circle and faced the wide eyed judges again. She felt a pricking sensation in the corners of her eyes. _Why now? Why today? Why in front of them? _She wanted to hit herself hard in the head. Couldn't she for once actually just do something without screwing it up? She wanted to cry. _That's it; you fucked up big time Kiri…_ She had her eyes closed. She couldn't make herself look at Aang or Siku, knowing how their facial expressions would give away their inner thoughts: disappointment. Everything started to seem blurry to her. The noise from the audience was incomprehensible; what were they saying? _I guess I wasn't ready for the arrows after all. What were you thinking Kiri? You will never be able to master airbending, you're too damn stupid!_ She could hear Aang and Siku talking quietly with each other. _Yeah just get it over with all ready, I know I didn't pass. Can't you just give me my judgment and let me escape this place, please… _She went through her show in her head. Everything had gone good; at one point she actually thought she could pass. But those air-kicks… "Kiri?" She heard her boyfriend's deep voice calling for her. _Whatever_, she thought to herself and finally opened her eyes. And then she became confused. _Why are you smiling like that?!_ She really couldn't see what was funny. "Didn't you listen? You passed. Congrats, sweetie…" And then her world fell apart.


	33. Chapter 33 Celebrating

Celebrating

**Are you as excited as I am? Our Kiri finally made it! Yay, can't get my arms down :-D haha. Sill a little bad language, sorry guys! Rated M! I can't help myself when something like this happens!**

Her heart was almost literally exploding with joy. Her eyes had already given up holding the tears back. Her body was racing with adrenalin and her stomach was filled with crazy sentiments that made her mind go wild. She couldn't hold it back; she screamed joyfully at the top of her lungs. Strong familiar arms hugged her hard and her boyfriend's laughter vibrated through her wild body. She felt the two of them rise in the air and now only surrounded by the steady cooling winds of winter. She looked at him. His face was stretched into a huge grin. His eyes were filled with that look again and now she was finally sure. It was pride. "Thank you so much!" She kissed him hard and passionately forcing her tongue into his mouth making him laugh in surprise. Her kissed her forehead and caressed her chin with the back of his warm hand. "You only have yourself to thank, Kiri. You did this, not me." Waves of happiness flushed over her as the approving words from Aang made her mind go crazy once more.

When they hit the ground again she ran over and hugged Siku. A yelp of surprise escaped Siku's lips as this wasn't something you'd expect to be done to an old nun. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kiri cheered. The world seemed to become whole for Kiri. This was what made her complete. She was soon surrounded by the others, all of them congratulating her. "Congratulations Kiri, you were really great out there!" she heard Katara say. "Great? Try fan-fucking-tastic, Sugar Queen!" Toph yelled, giving Kiri a hard punch on her shoulder. It was probably meant to be a punch of approval but Kiri couldn't help but think if it was to get, just a slight bit, back at her for tackling her yesterday. "You were awesome Kiri!" Suki yelled with Mika laughing at her arm. "You kick ass, airbender-style!" Sokka agreed. Kiri was bursting with joy. This was the happiest day of her life.

That night, they held a big party to celebrate Kiri. They'd invited a couple of people from Republic City to join them and they were all gathered at the big table in the kitchen of the airtemple. Some had held speeches in honor of Kiri and her heart was as big as ever. The room was filled with love and everyone sat with smiles on their faces. Kiri got up and cleared her throat and by that got all's attention. "I just wanna say thanks to all of you! When I first met Aang, I was amazed by him. Not only was he the Avatar, but he was an airbender. Like me. And he wore the arrows of the master. Never in my life had I ever seen someone with those tattoos, and I would never have thought that I one day myself would wear them. But here I am… You can't believe how much this means to me and I just wanted to say thank you for supporting me, you've all been a big help. Especially you Aang. You're the most amazing person I know." She sat down with her eyes locked on her boyfriend. He mouthed an `I-love-you´ at her, making her blush and smile. "When are you gonna get your tattoos?" Sokka asked with his mouth full of food. Kiri pulled her shoulders. She hadn't really thought about that. And how were they even going to? "Tomorrow" Aang answered with a secret-y glare in his eyes. Kiri gulped loudly. She hadn't really imagined how getting the tattoos would be like; she had only imagined herself with them, not the process. She caught Katara looking at her with a scared expression on her face. Kiri widened her eyes at her, showing that she too was actually kind of frightened by the thought. But she decided to push the thought away; she wanted to enjoy this evening celebrating what she'd accomplished.

After a good hours dancing, Kiri found her way out on the little balcony of the great room. Her body was trembling with heat. Never in her life had she danced this much and Aang was certainly a good dancer. He had moves from all over the world he wanted to teach her but she had to admit the challenges she'd been through earlier that day had drained her body from energy. She stared out over the airtemple island and farther across the sea. The sky was beautiful, no clouds covering it, letting thousands of twinkling stars shine their light on the dark calm ocean. She was happier than she'd ever been as she was standing there. _I'm finally gonna show everyone where I come from, dad_, she thought to herself as she scouted the skyline. She sent humble thanks to the Spirits; they had to know how grateful she was.

"Why are you out here in the cold Kiri, come back in," she heard Aang say behind her. She turned around to watch her gorgeous boyfriend standing in the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. "I'm just… thinking," she whispered. Aang walked over to her and put his arms around her. "Nervous about tomorrow?" he asked. She buried her face in his shoulder and kissed it. He tasted salty and sweet at the same time. "I am yes, but that wasn't what I was thinking about, thank you very much for bringing that up", she said with a smile on her lips, "I was just sending my thanks to the Spirits. And my dad and granddad. I am so happy Aang." They hugged each other and let their eyes watch the dark sky in silence. After a couple of minutes, Kiri broke the silence: "Will it hurt?" she closed her eyes, afraid of the answer. "Yes. Getting the tattoos is really painful. But you will also find that it is a cleansing experience for you." She sent him a couple of questioning eyes that he answered right away: "When I got my tattoos I cried during the whole thing. I was a kid," he winked at her, continuing, "But afterwards, when the pain subsided, I felt clean. Like I was a new person. It really helped me become the person I am today." She looked at him with impressed eyes as he was staring up on the star-filled sky. _Such an amazing person…_ "You will look funny though," he said and sent her an amused grin. Again, she sent him questioning eyes. "You know, being bald and all…" Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was saying. Bald?

**Can you imagine? So thrilled to write another chapter and let you guys know how she's going to look like! :-D**


	34. Chapter 34 The Needle - Part 1

The Needle – Part 1

**This is part one of Kiri's transformation into becoming a real master of airbending! WARNING! Rated M for sexual hints (to the pervs – please don't get your hopes up, it won't get dirty just yet…) and a little blood. Just for the readers that might not like to read about that. To the others; hope you like it! I know I do ;-)**

She was lying on the hard mattress, face down. Her body was completely stiffened. She had no idea what this was going to feel like but she knew it would be painful. Siku had just finished covering her skin with lovely-smelling oil; it filled the room with an aroma of papayas. The oil was for numbing her skin a bit so the needle wouldn't feel too bad. She shrugged once more. Imagining a needle penetrating her skin a billion times over her whole body… Her stomach churned. She was only covered in a towel and they'd told her that they would start off with her feet and then move upwards, finishing with her forehead. She'd been prepared for the `transformation´ by taking a long hot shower where she'd shaven all the hair from her body. She couldn't make herself shave her head though. Siku had agreed with her to do it in their break. _I can't believe we're having a break for people to have lunch time?!_ A shiver ran over her exposed skin. She'd explicitly asked for the others to stay out, only allowing Aang and Siku to enter the room. After all, they were the ones that had to… She shrugged again. The room was very warm and the air really dry. Kiri turned her head to look at her boyfriend. He was sitting a couple of meters to her right, meditating. "Can you hold my body for me a couple of hours? I have some really important things to do…" she mumbled out with a thick layer of sarcasm. A smile broke the serenity on his face and he opened his eyes. "Kiri I know this is gonna be some tough hours for you. But it's so amazing that you do it! I asked the Spirits to hold their hands over you." He winked at her and shot an airborne kiss in her direction. She breathed out heavily and buried her face in the mattress once more. _You want to do this, you want to do this, and you want to do this…_

"Are you ready to start Miss Kiri?" nun Siku asked her with a calming hand on her shoulder. _I'm ready, right? No I'm not… Seriously, yes I am. No I'm not._ "Just start Siku" Aang said in a grave voice. Kiri was in some way grateful that he knew how she felt about it; she would never have been able to answer without him helping. She could smell the weird blue mass that stood in the wooden bowl to her left. She couldn't describe the smell; it was something she'd never encountered ever before in her life. And then, a stinging sensation began in her right foot. _This isn't that bad,_ she thought to herself. Aang held her hand while Siku pushed the needle in and out of Kiri's pale skin. "Is it bad?" he asked as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "No, not yet" she mumbled out through the mattress. She focused on Aang's calming movements, his breathing steady, his warm hands that sometimes spread warmth through her body as he touched her skin. "I'm going to miss your hair. The smell of it. You have the most beautiful hair." This made her heart heavy. _Don't make it even worse_. Her hair had always been one of her favorite things about herself. It was blond; not something you usually saw. Her father's hair had been black as the night and therefore it was the only thing she could say for sure was from her mother. She'd died as she gave birth to Kiri. Her thoughts were disturbed as the stinging sensation grew worse. Her body told her to jerk off of the mattress and run away never to come back. But she managed to restrain herself, forcing her muscles to remain relaxed – as much as possible that is. She felt like Siku didn't move from the spot where she began, as if she just continued forcing the needle in at the same spot over and over. _This is gonna be a long day…_

Several hours had passed and Kiri was now in constant pain. Tears were pressing to explode from the corners of her eyes and she couldn't help but to sometimes let small and subtle cries escape her lips when Siku took long strides. The long ones were the worst. She'd told Aang to go; she felt it unnecessary for him to be in the room when he didn't tattoo but he was persistent. "I'm not leaving your side" he'd said. Siku had now reached her inner thigh. She wanted to scream. She forced her mind to think about something pleasant. Like when Aang told her that he loved her. Or when he kissed her with such passion that he beamed with heat. Her thoughts made her stomach twitch, a powerful tickling sensation twirling around. The time went slowly by, like a lazy snail making its way through the mushy soil of the forest in spring.

"Monk Aang, I think it's time for us to switch; my hand is starting to ache." Siku had endured all of Kiri's right leg. _Yay, now the left…_ Sarcasm wasn't something she normally used this often but she couldn't help herself; this situation was just too… Mind-numbing. Aang was faster than Siku. Kiri hoped that it was because of skills and not that Siku was more thorough. The feeling once more started out as a light pricking sensation only to develop into a hardcore I'm-about-to-scream pain. But she endured, only letting a few tears escape her wet eyes. When Aang reached her inner thigh, she was overwhelmed by another feeling too, though. The thought of him touching her at such an intimate place was both thrilling and disturbing at the same time. She wanted to look at him. But he seemed very steady in his touch and professional, so to speak. When he reached her butt-cheeks the feeling grew more intense. She could feel the air in the room circling with more speed than before and his breathing grew heavier. Her face reddened as she heard him clear his throat. _What are you thinking?_ She wanted to break the awkward silence between them but couldn't get any words out of her mouth. What was she going to say? _"Hey Aang, you like touching me there?"_ His hands were warm and soft as he firmly continued his work. She felt a heat gather in the pit of her stomach and pump through her veins together with adrenalin. How was he coping? Still no words from any of them. She'd never felt this awkward around him but somewhere deep inside of her, she liked being this close to him. _Get a grip Kiri, please. _


	35. Chapter 35 The Needle - Part 2

The Needle – Part 2

**And here is the second part of Kiri's transformation, yay! Again, WARNING, rated M for blood. Should I maybe rate the whole story M? Hm… Nevermind, hope you like the outcome! REVIEW! :-D **

He finally managed to make his way up to the beginning of her spine. "Monk Aang, are you coping?" They both gasped out in surprise as Siku's words pierced the tense silence that had filled the room. "I could use some air…" His voice sounded deeper than ever with a rough cling to it. Kiri smiled to herself down in the mattress, her cheeks burning a deep red. If only Siku knew how hot and weird it had been in here just moments ago. "Of course. Katara has started on dinner, maybe you could help her out?" As soon as Aang left the room, Kiri felt her muscles relaxing again. That had really been intense…

The spine was a nightmare. Every single prick of the needle felt like a knife cutting through her skin to leave it bleeding. _Spirits, hear my words. Please help me go through this!_ she thought to herself as she finally let the tears stream down her face. Her mouth felt dry and tasted like a mixture of sand and perfume. If the test she'd gone through yesterday had been tough, it didn't measure with this. This was just unbearable. "Miss Kiri, when I reach your neck, we will have our break. You will then eat and shave your head and do whatever you need to do." Kiri wanted to sigh out in relief. She knew that they were over halfway through it and it wouldn't be long before Siku would reach her neck. A feeling of joy bubbled though her body along with the stabbing pain of the needle. Man, that wasn't something any child should be faced to do.

She and Aang had their dinner together in the room where she was being tattooed. She didn't want the others to ask her questions about the pain. She would have a breakdown if they did. When Kiri looked down her legs, she couldn't believe it was hers. The color of the arrows was a dark blue, almost purple that was dotted with her dried out blood. Not very appetizing. "Look at me" Aang said as they'd finished their meal together in silence. "I am so very proud of you Kiri, you can't believe what this means to me. And please don't think about what I said earlier about your hair… It will grow out." She smiled at him. The last thing was definitely something either Katara or Suki had told him to say. But she loved him for trying to sooth her. She wanted them to talk about the awkward situation they'd been going through before but she didn't know how to approach it. She wished she could just lay it out there, make it into something they could laugh about. But she didn't know how to. Aang got up and reached out a hand for her. "You ready to go bald?" She followed him without answering. _Never…_

She watched her own image with horror painted across her face. All of her hair was… Just gone? Just like that. It hadn't taken Aang long to get all of her beautiful blonde locks to be scattered over the floor behind her. Her face seemed so much bigger now; so round and… Manly. She felt manly. She saw Aang study her new look in the mirror. She immediately covered her face, saying: "Please don't look at me, I'm so ugly!" She felt the tears pricking at her eyes once more. Was this mood-changing whirlwind ever going to stop? She felt his arms surround her, his lips pushing at her… _bald_ head. _How can he kiss me?_ She really couldn't hold the tears back. He started humming a sweet melody that sent a mild bass through her tense body. "You may be regretting this decision right now, but trust me sweetie, when you're done, you'll feel so much better. Everything will make sense. And will you please stop saying that you're ugly? Nothing's ugly about you, you hear me?"

She felt like fainting. The pain in her forehead was worse than anything she'd ever felt. Even being burnt by evil firenation soldiers seemed to be like dancing on flowers and cake compared to this. The tears flowed down her cheeks and she couldn't get herself to look at the beautiful man right in front of her. Aang was the one who were to finish her tattoos. They'd been going all day and now, they'd passed midnight. Siku and the others had gone to bed. Kiri sat there with the towel wrapped around her body as her boyfriend pierced her thin skin on her forehead. "Please Kiri, sit still." Her body was almost uncontrollable. A mix of almost fainting from pain, exhaustion and wanting to run away, she found herself sobbing loudly. She knew this was hard on Aang but she couldn't control herself anymore. All day she'd been trying to show the others that she could handle this. But the truth was, had she been alone with the pain, she'd given up a long time ago. The needle just continued to stab her skin. Stab, stab, stab. She wanted to destroy it. A small drop of blood hit her lip. The smell of blood made it even more difficult for her to keep her internal fight. And then, the needle finally stopped.


	36. Chapter 36 Unexpected Guests

Unexpected Guests

As they were standing there in front of the mirror, she knew she'd done the right thing. They were both wearing typical airbender clothes; orange, red and yellow. They had both the same haircut; bald. And they both had blue arrows stretching out over their bodies. They could be brother and sister. The only thing that made Kiri look different was her red scar on her right leg and of course, her womanly curves. And the color of her arrows was deeper, a more unnatural blue than Aang's, and a red line following along it. It had been two days since she'd gotten her tattoos but her skin hadn't healed yet. But she was joyed. Aang sent her a smile as he studied her. "Are you satisfied with the outcome?" She nodded. She almost couldn't comprehend that it was her own reflection she was looking at in the mirror. Her body beamed with pride. "Wait here, I got you a little something…" With the blink of an eye, he'd thrown himself out of the window. She shook her head, smiling. _What have you done now, Avatar?_ She stepped closer to the mirror to look more closely at her tattoos. They were beautiful. Never in her life had she thought of herself as someone who could wear them; and with pride even. The corners of her mouth were as glued to her eyes; her happiness showed in every movement she made. It was like everything she did, every muscle she flexed, looked so different from what she'd been used to. This was the reflection of a true master of airbending. Her heart raced joyfully. A gush of air and two warm hands over her eyes made her chuckle. "Aang, what are you doing?" He didn't answer her, but started leading her towards the window. He put something in her hand. "I love you so very much." She opened to see Aang's staff placed in her hand. _What is this?_ She looked at him in confusion. He was too holding his staff, a crooked smile on his lips, wait – what? She finally realized it wasn't _his _staff she was holding. "Are you kidding me?!" She burst with joy as she let the sails of the glider slide out. It was so alike his. He kissed her hard and jumped out the window. "Catch me if you can!"

Finally, she was able to keep up with him. Controlling the glider was harder than it looked. Of course, Aang had done it since he was a little kid, and this was Kiri's first time trying it alone. But the sensation was thrilling. You could go so fast. She was breaking through the clouds with such a speed; she thought she wouldn't be able to stop. Her clothes immediately went soaked but she didn't care. All that filled her mind was the air blowing around her and the warm laughs of her boyfriend. Everything felt good at that exact moment. She had everything she could every dream of. People that loved her, Aang, the tattoos of the master and a safe home. She let out a loud cheer as she raced towards the earth. She was getting a hold of this.

"Hey Aang? Can you get that pan up there for me, top shelf?" Kiri turned around with wide eyes as she felt Katara's finger poking her. "OH, SPIRITS!" Kiri couldn't help but laugh. "I'm so sorry Kiri, I really thought… Oh I'm so foolish!" Toph now came into the kitchen with a big barrel of newly fetched water. "Someone else mistake you for being Twinkles too?" "Yup," she nodded with a huge grin on her face. It didn't annoy her one bit; she only thought it crazy that they could think she was Aang. Yes, they wore alike clothes, and yes they both had the arrow tattoos but come on?! Aang was at least one head taller than Kiri and his shoulders much broader than hers. But was it funny. "We _do_ look alike, don't we?" Aang joined them in the kitchen now and put a hand around Kiri's waist.

They all sat around the table when someone knocked at the door. They all sent each other curious eyes. Who was visiting at this time? Siku slowly got up and darted for the hallway. Kiri watched Aang as he lifted his shoulders and continued with his plate of food. But Kiri couldn't help but try to hear who Siku was greeting. It was very unusual for them to have unexpected guests at the temple; it was far enough from the shore of Republic City to keep people from `just stopping by´. She could hear a male voice speaking and Siku letting him in. All eyes were on the door leading to the hall as the guests approached them. "Hmph" Toph mumbled as she smiled at Katara, "Sparkles here." Kiri's eyes shot open as the Firelord entered their kitchen with a crooked smile on his face. "Zuko!" Katara yelled out in surprise and ran up to meet him in a long hard hug. They all got up to greet their friend. "Hey man, sorry for the situation I put you in," Zuko said as he and Aang hugged each other. "No worries, no worries." As he laid his eyes on Kiri, they shot open in surprise. _Oh no_, she thought to herself as his lips curled up in a teasing smile. "Grats," he smiled at her while coming closer for a hug. _What? No teasing? No silly names?_ She felt her cheeks blush. That was very unlike Zuko.

They'd spent the night enjoying that they all finally were gathered again. Katara and Zuko were acting like they were stuck to each other, following each other around the whole night. Kiri could understand them, though. She'd felt the same need to be around Aang when she'd arrived at the Firenation a couple of months ago. They all went to bed late that night but Kiri couldn't sleep. She'd laid in her bed for ages it seemed, until she finally decided to get some water in the kitchen. She dragged her feet down the stairs as her eyes studied her newly tattooed arms. Her mind began to daydream about the airtemples back in the days. Aang had told her how peaceful and life-giving his childhood had been. She pictured him racing around on his air-scooter with his bald head and blue arrows. The idea made her chuckle. "I don't know, I'm just really nervous…" Her heart seemed to skip a beat as she heard their voices. Zuko and Aang were still sitting in the kitchen. _Didn't Zuko and Katara go to bed before us?_ She heard Zuko laugh and something light being laid on the table. "Aang, as your best friend, I'm telling you for the last time; she's going to say yes, I just know it!" Kiri's lungs seemed to fail her now. She heard Aang sigh out heavily as she found herself having to sit down on the floor. It seemed like her body was beginning to shut down; only her ears capable of working. She wanted to scream out; to let them know that she could hear them. Her throat had tightened so not even a little yelp could escape her lips. "Well. I guess we'll see about that tomorrow, right?" Aang's voice had a strange tone to it and it didn't sound like him. She could hear chairs being pulled out and footsteps coming her way. Inside, her body was starting to panic. _Move, Kiri, move!_ Nothing happened. It was like every nerve and muscle inside of her had cut its connection to her brain. The Avatar and the Firelord rounded the corner. _Breathe…_ She saw the horror on Aang's face before she blacked out.

**DRAMA! What's going to happen next? Please review for the sake of Kiri and Aang's love ;-) **


	37. Chapter 37 Nightmares

Nightmares

**Attention please! I don't want anyone to get confused ;-) I'm changing the point of view into Aang's for this chapter and maybe more… Enjoy!**

He was lying on his bed, arms over his head and still with his clothes on. He hadn't had any sleep at all that night; he didn't know what to do. He sighed out as he turned around to stare into his wall. _Why did that happen? It was supposed to be so perfect and now? What is she thinking?_ He felt his muscles flex; he wasn't used to lying so still for so long. He felt his energy twirl around inside of him but he didn't want to get up; he didn't want to face anyone right now. Especially not Kiri. The picture of her sitting so still on the floor last night, bathed in moonlight and darkness at the same time and with a terrified look on her face, flashed through his mind once more. He shrugged. He'd only seen her face like that one time before… That night at the Firenation. He felt his eyes shot slowly and he finally slumbered into a restless sleep. 

… _A long dark hall. He pushes his legs forward but they can't really cooperate. He wants to get to the end faster. He looks over his shoulder in panic; the red monstrous eyes are still there; creeping up on him. Why can't he run? He hears her scream and it hurts his ears so bad. The scream is filled with longing and pain. He sees her now too; so far away, at the end of the long hall. He yells for her but she doesn't seem to listen. "Run Kiri". Whatever fills her heart with fear, she needs to get out of there. He feels his leg starting to awake; he finally feels that he gets closer to her. To his love. "Kiri… Run!" What is she doing? Why isn't she running? Get out of here! He feels so powerless. He reaches her but the red eyes are still behind him; getting closer and closer. She turns her head to finally look at him. But it's not her. "Katara?" _

_They start falling. She grasps him and holds him close. "Don't. Please don't…" They are twirling in a tornado of fire. Katara's hair blinds him but he can hear her; Kiri. "Aang help me!" Why is he with Katara and not her? Small gaps of the fire tornado allow him to get glimpses of her; she is so beautiful. Her innocent face and big round dark eyes of blue framed by her long blonde hair. But she is too shrouded in flames, licking her soft skin and blue arrows in their snake style manner. He can't get out of Katara's arms; they hold him so tight. "Please, let me go!" With his hands he forces her face to look at him. But it's not Katara anymore. The face of old Firelord Ozai is inches from his; the blackness of his evil eyes tears open his chest. The fire gets closer and closer to him; he can't get away. This time, Ozai will win. "Even though you locked me up, I still haunt you, Avatar!" His evil laughs pound at his ears. "I will defeat all of you! Weak peasants!" Aang feels the cold stone floor before he hears his legs break. Pain numbs his body. Again he hears her screams. "Aang, please! Do something!" But he can't. He can see her at the center of the room, surrounded by Ozai's rebels. They will kill her. Just like they will kill me, he thinks to himself. Despair. "Somebody… Please help me." He feels so alone as he lays there; staring at the horrible scene of his girlfriend's assassination. Why won't anyone do something?! Her screams start to drown in the noise of the flames burning her. "Aang… Aang please help me. _"Aang!" _"Kiri… Don't take her…" "Aang, don't let them do this!" _"Aang, wake up!" _"No, don't take her! She is my hope!"_ "AANG!" A hard slap on his cheek finally made him fall out of his nightmare. Only to be met by another... Zuko was standing over him; a horrified look on his face. "Aang, come on, we need to get to the city!" Confusion filled his mind as he finally realized he'd been dreaming. "W-wh-what?" He could fill a sharp tension in the air; something was most certainly not as it should be. "What is going on?" Zuko grabbed him and pulled him up to stand on his feet. "I… I don't understand, but… Someone must have spread the news that I was going here, I mean… I tried to keep it secret…" The firelord mumbled to himself. Aang's eyebrows furrowed deeply as he tried to figure out what his friend was saying. He laid his hand on Zuko's shoulder: "Zuko, tell me, aren't we safe here?" Zuko nodded quickly and pointed to the window. Aang rushed over, only to be met by a disturbing sight; Republic City was under attack.

He was on his way to the city – _their_ city – as he finally got a hold on how bad the situation was. Several airborne ships tagged with the Phoenix King symbol hang randomly over the tall buildings and many columns of smoke was raising towards the grey and clouded sky. Appa growled as they came closer; he could feel as well as the rest of them that this wasn't good. He looked at his friends; Zuko, Katara and Toph. They all had determined, yet worried looks on their faces. He could feel a rage starting to bubble in the pit of his stomach. _This has to end now! They can't just come here and attack this city; the city of peace and justice!_ _Ozai and his followers need to know that they're defeated! I won't allow them to still cause damage to this world!_ He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Toph. She nudged him. "Twinkles, calm down. I can feel your heartbeat all the way over here. We're gonna take these guys, you can bet your ass on that!" She shot a hard glance towards Republic City while mumbling. "Stupid… Burning down _my_ buildings… No sir, no…" Aang didn't respond to her words of encouragement. Never in his life had he imagined that a war – big or small – would come to Republic City. _How dare they?_


	38. Chapter 38 Claiming

Claiming 

He saw the troubled faces of his friends; they were all giving everything they had. Aang's legs were aching. He shot another pile of sharp rocks after the rebels. They were literally everywhere. They had evacuated several parts of the city but there were still hundreds of citizens who needed his help. _Aang – you gotta do this, you can't let them down!_ Some of the benders, mostly Toph's construction workers, had joined them in battling the intruders. And they needed all the help they could get. Aang shot a quick glance at his best friend standing on his left. Zuko's eyes were filled with a certain darkness and his face was painted with determination. More and more Phoenix King ships seemed to roll over the sky; _where does all of this come from?_ Aang couldn't believe his own eyes. _How can such an evil person have so many followers?_ Aang shook his head, knowing that he never would be able to answer that question. He only knew that he had to protect everyone from it. No matter the cost. He heard citizens scream. This awoke something inside of him. He wouldn't allow them to do this to _his_ people. He felt power twirl through his veins, his chi opening to let him enter his most vulnerable state. "Leave!"

Katara stood beside him. She was shooting arrows of ice at the group surrounding them while Aang was focusing on taking down the ships in the sky above them. At the center of the round market place Zuko was fighting together with Toph and a couple of her earthbenders. To Aang's left, both water and earth bender citizens were pushing their way through the mass of firebenders. They actually seemed to cope with the rebels. Could this be true? For the last few hours Aang's vision had been clouded with the feeling of hopelessness. So many lost souls had gathered to fight him and the Firelord, but now they finally had the upper hand. Aang had taken down many of the ships and several of them seemed to be going back; in defeat. His lips crawled up into a smile as he heard Toph's cheering. This was good. Now, they only had a small group of rebels before them. Aang made himself ready, focusing all of his power, and rose into the air. He forced a wave of water up above his head as he rested his eyes on the firebenders below him. A feeling of rage and despite gusted over him and he was ready to let the water crash upon them. He looked forward to it. But then… They raised their hands?

"Aang, what are you doing? Finish them!" Zuko was shouting at him. But Aang couldn't let the wave squash them when they were surrendering. They were, right? He slowly came back to stand on the ground, though still with the wave above him. A tall man, probably the leader of the group, walked slowly towards Katara and him with a look on his face Aang couldn't define. What was that look in his eyes? "Katara, go over to Zuko," Aang mumbled silently as the creepy leader came closer. He didn't trust him. "What do you want?" Aang shouted. To his own surprise, his voice sounded deep and very confident. He narrowed his eyes at the Phoenix King rebel, trying to figure him out. Out of the corner of his eye, Aang could see Toph and her earthbenders getting the last citizens out of the marketplace His muscles flexed; on one hand, he wanted to defeat them; to let Ozai know that he couldn't compete with him anymore; that he had become stronger. On the other hand, it would go against his nature. He couldn't fight someone that surrendered. He was screaming on the inside. A sleazy smile spread across the leader's face while he lazily lifted his arms into the air. "Easy, easy, my good friend. We already got what we came for…" Aang's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Some of the rebels in the group laughed meanly behind him. Aang's eyes shot open. _Did I forget something? What does he mean; they already got what they came for? _His lips tightened in a straight line as he searched his mind for a possible gap. They had evacuated big parts of the city, sent the majority of the airborne ships away or destroyed them and Zuko was still standing beside him. What had they done? A sharp laughter shot from the rebel as he clapped his hands. Aang felt nervousness gather in the pit of his stomach. He'd definitely forgotten something. "You see Avatar, we are a minority in this world right now… That means we need to take big measures in our fight for justice. We tried taking down the traitor," he waved his hand absentmindedly at Zuko, "but realized that we needed something of yours to gain what we want; something we can _trade…_" His words drowned in a slimy smile. Aang closed his eyes as he felt his heart drop. He could hear Katara and Zuko gasp out as they too realized what the rebel was talking about. _No! No, no, no, no, no, no…_ Aang slowly turned around and opened his eyes to his worst nightmare; at the airtemple, several kilometers from them, a single Phoenix King ship hung over his home. The nightmare he'd had the night before suddenly flashed before his eyes. His love in the hands of firebenders, screaming for him to help her. Himself, trapped in the arms of Ozai, unable to take out the flames licking the skin of hers. "Kiri…" he whispered as his vision became clouded. "Yes, Avatar. In order to get your little family back, you will hand us over the abject traitor of the true Firelord Ozai." Aang couldn't believe his ears or eyes. This was too much for him to comprehend. Why hadn't he been more careful about leaving the others at the temple? Of course, he'd only thought that they were focused on Zuko and him and not… He could feel tears pressing against his eyes as he imagined the scared faces of Kiri, Siku, Sezun, Sokka, Suki and Mika. Why hadn't he been more careful? _How could I be so stupid? _However, he had a tiny hope growing inside of him; Kiri, Sokka and Suki were great warriors; maybe they'd been able to hold them back? Maybe he could still save them?

He ran as fast as he could, leaving behind the group of rebels that were smiling tauntingly at him. They couldn't do that. Just couldn't… Tears streamed down his face as he reached the sea. He went as fast as he could.


	39. Chapter 39 Going Back

Going Back

**Oh oh… I'm changing back to Kiri's point of view. Do you enjoy it so far? Please review :-D **

She heard the sound of metal grinding once more. Was it already dinner time? She looked away; she didn't want them to know that she paid any attention to them at all. _Urgh, how I hate them!_ she thought to herself as the usual plate of overcooked rice was sent in her direction. She didn't get them. Why not just let her die down here instead of feeding her all the time; keeping her alive? She'd been down there for approximately two weeks now. She'd spent the first week searching for small gaps or errors in the cell that she could use for an escape plan. However, the Phoenix King rebels had done a marvelous job building the cells. Not even a single scratch in the hard concrete. She frowned as she heard her stomach growl and started feeling her mouth water. She didn't want to be fed by them. But she couldn't help herself; she was starving.

Once more, she heard the metal grind. _What now?_ A little square of light escaped from the opening at the door. She turned her face away. She'd always just used her hair to cover up her face but… Obviously, she couldn't use that trick anymore. Small tears escaped her eyes as the memories of her and Aang standing at the mirror, studying her newly shaved head and the freshly tattooed arrows. She would give anything to be back at that moment right now; escaping this cold dirt-smelling hole. "Are you cold?" a tiny voice asked her from the outside of her cell. "Mph," she snorted as answer. _What do you think smartass?_ She crawled farther away from the door and leaned her back against the cold concrete. She hid her face in her arms as she felt the guy's eyes rest on her. _What do you want from me?_ She heard something hid the floor and suddenly felt flames being shot in her direction. She gasped out loudly and shot a hard blow of air at the flames both in defense and surprise. "Hey hey hey," the guy whispered, "easy, I'm not trying to hurt you." Kiri let out an amazed sigh as she realized what he was doing. Small flames were licking some wood at the center of the floor in her cell. _He made me a fire?_ She finally shot a quick glance at the opening in the door. A couple of round eyes were staring at her, curiosity filling the light brown ovals. She narrowed her eyes at him. He didn't seem like the rest of them; his stare had another tone to it. She crawled closer to the fire and felt the warmth force goose bumps to cover her skin. She let out a pleased sigh. It seemed like she'd been freezing forever.

"So…" The guy seemed to be hoping for a conversation. She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're really an airbender, huh?" She held her hands close to the fire and nodded. "How come…" His question trailed off into a couple of staring eyes once more. "What's your name?" he asked. His voice was very light and had an almost frightened tone to it. Was he afraid of her? She stared into the fire without answering him. He seemed restless as he stood there. "I'm Gimon. I figured, since I'm gonna guard you every night, we could at least talk, right?" She turned her back at both him and the fire, resting her now warm hands on her head. She could feel that her hair had probably grown an inch or less. _Wonder if I'm gonna have grown my hair back out before I'll be out of here. IF I'll be out of here…_ She shrugged at the thought. A slight pain struck her heart as she thought about Aang. His warm grey eyes and his loving smile. Would she see him again? Her throat tightened. Whatever these rebels wanted from him, she didn't want him to give it to them. She figured, since they'd kidnapped her and the others, they definitely would push his limits; Aang wasn't someone who would risk the life and happiness of his friends for anything. But this time it was different. Obviously, they wanted Zuko off the throne. _But that _can't_ happen!_ A light hiss escaped her lips as anger once more raced through her veins. The feeling overwhelmed her and she flew to the opening at the door and screamed at the guard; "Can't you see what you're doing is wrong?! Zuko only wants what's best for everyone! And Aang too! Why do you want to screw everything up?" Instantly, the opening was shut close with a loud noise following. This made her even more infuriated. "You want this world to be at war again? 'Cause that's all you're gonna get out of this!" The air in the cell was now in movement; a small tornado forming around her. Kiri wanted to tear the whole place down, to break those walls keeping her from seeing her loved once. But air wasn't going to help her now. She could do nothing. As she realized this once more, she sat down. Tears started streaming down her face as she took in the feeling. It reminded her of the time when she was being held prisoner by the old firenation soldiers. _Captured…_

She could hear Gimon breathing loudly. She'd definitely scared him now. He seemed to be so young and innocent. She quickly shrugged to get rid of that thought. All Phoenix King rebels were bad; they had to be. He was part of the ones who held her here; who kept her from seeing her friends. She frowned. She gazed down the arrows on her arms and smiled. No matter how long she would be in here, she knew; she would always belong to Aang. He was the one that had made her realize what she truly was; an airbender. Her hands tightened. She had to do something! She couldn't just sit in here and wait for something or someone! She quickly got to her feet as she started going around in a circle, thinking. What could she do to get out? Hmm…


End file.
